Visiting John Muir

I’m on the eastern end of the bifurcation now, this is where the trail splits to come back together later. There is a lot of road walking. As a matter of fact, today is all road except for the last 1.8 miles.

Most of the road is quiet and I pass by some lakes, which provide a little bit of interest. Otherwise not much is happening besides the occasional deer and the couple digging up turtle eggs on their lawn. What?? Turns out they saw the turtle lay the eggs there and they will relocate them to a safer spot where the raccoons won’t get them. Interesting. I’ve never seen turtle eggs before. They look like ping pong balls.

The next event is lunch at Montello. I pass by the biggest tree in Wisconsin, a giant cottonwood. An old quarry has been rehabilitated with pretty cascades and flowers but it’s a busy little park so when I meet up with Bag Lady again we drive to the town park and find a nice shady picnic table there. The town is cute but not much is open on a Sunday.

We say goodbye again and plan to meet at the end of the day. I have more road walk to go and make the time go by with phone calls to friends. Having car support means I can charge my phone and batteries and don’t have to worry about draining my battery. So I yak and yak and yak.

I meet Bag Lady at the northern end of the John Muir Park. This park is where John Muir spent his early teens and it’s kind of neat to walk around and sightsee. A 1.8-mile section of sweet trail meanders around and I exit just a short way south of the earlier parking lot. Bag Lady meets me there. As we’re talking I kick a stick onto the big toe on my right foot and it starts gushing blood. I must have hit a tender spot underneath my recovering blister. I’m a bit worried and quickly pull out my first aid kit. I clean it up, bandage it and hope for the best.

We head over for a place to park and sleep in her van. We can both fit snuggly and she even has a sweet pillow for me to use. It’s like having a sleepover. So fun!