hiking

[low_delta]

Yesterday we went north. Cyn had the idea of going to the Kohler Design Center, to maybe get ideas for a bathroom remodel. I'm not sure we did, since we don't have a million dollars to spend on a bathroom. But maybe a few clues.

Since we were in the area, we went over to the Kettle Moraine State Park area, to see some fall colors. It's on the early side of the color change, so it was mostly green turning to golden, with occasional red. We stopped at an area of hiking trails. All the loops were either shorter than we wanted to do, or longer, so we chose longer. 3.6 miles. It was kinda rough due to my pain, but we made it.

And I got a deer tick bite. I found it on me in the shower this morning.






Someone placed shells along the trail. No idea why. Some kind of scavenger hunt? We saw seven before we turned onto a trail that didn't have them.


And rock stacking.

Comments

making space for positive light in my life

[cleobatya.livejournal.com]

yikes re: the tick...did you get it all out? is it a lyme area?

Re: making space for positive light in my life

[promiseoftin.livejournal.com]

My concerns exactly! You all right?

Re: making space for positive light in my life

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Got the tick out, but it was really embedded, since it was the next day. I was definitely a deer tick, which is known for carrying lyme disease. I need to watch the rash. See Ravenfeather's comments below for details on how all that works.

Re: making space for positive light in my life

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Got the tick out, but it was really embedded, since it was the next day. I was definitely a deer tick, which is known for carrying lyme disease. I need to watch the rash. See Ravenfeather's comments below for details on how all that works.

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

Like the others, concerned about the tick fevers. Are any in your area?

WHO maintains the trails in that area? They are GORGEOUS! You have to be kind of skinny, and have good balance to walk most of the state park trails here. That one with Cyn walking down a "trail" with four hills would be a well maintained dirt road for cars to use here.

The rocks are pretty, what kind are they? Nothing like that here. Rock stacking used to be use to convey directions or warnings. I wonder if that is random, or some group effort.

Nice photos.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Yes, deer ticks (which this was) have Lyme disease. I haven't heard of any other tick-borne diseases. Wood ticks are the most common kind.

That's a state forest, but it seems more like a state park. These trails are a bit wider than most state trails. Not sure why, exactly. We saw some really narrow trails, but they were mountain bike trails. The trails we were on were off limits to bikes, horses and snowmobiles.

Most of the rocks in the area are glacial deposits, so there are all kinds. You see them piled up along the edges of what were once farm fields. These, however, were all the same - some kind of limestone - so I think they were dug out of the side of a cut in a hill.

The area is called Kettle Moraine, and it's a very intricate, hilly landscape, formed by glaciers. In some places the hills are made of sorted materials, rocks up to gravel. In some, the materials are all mixed. There are a lot of commercial gravel pits in the area.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettle_%28landform%29
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moraine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esker
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kame
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drumlin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettle_Moraine

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

It looks like the trails you show are maintained with a big road side mower, and that might account for the width. They look like there is nothing tearing them up, as all the banned vehicles will do. It looks like such a wonderful place to walk. Do you think you guys will go back in a few weeks when the leaves have turned more? Thanks for the links, I will look at them now. You know I likes my rocks!

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Probably won't be back this year. We don't go up every year, but the weather was just so beautiful. Not sure if we'll have time, or if the weather will still be good.

Here are a few more past photos: Flickr photos (https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=14542870%40N03&sort=date-taken-desc&text=kettle%20moraine&view_all=1)

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

The glacier links are interesting. When I was in HS in Alaska, a group of friends would go on "glacier climbs". They were smaller glaciers, that could be climbed in a couple of hours. I recognize all those formations linked, but we did not know what they were called. We climbed up what we called the "slag heap" which was the terminal moraine until we reached the actual ice of the glacier, then clambered around on it, until we got to an area of deep crevasses, then we turned around and went back down. Since they were smaller glaciers, they advanced and retreated quicker than most glaciers, and the moraines were a MESS of streams, high piles of rocks of every size, puddles of ice water, and in some cases tree trunks. It is hard to describe how big those piles are. It generally took us half a day to climb up and down once we got there.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Our glacial landforms are all tens of thousands of years old, so they've been smoothed out a little. :-)

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

I don't remember which formation it was, but "results in uneven rolling hills" perfectly described one of the curving hilly paths Cyn was walking down.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

But there was still some gorgeous colour! The reddish tree among the green is gorgeous.

Was the tick still stuck to you? I'd be getting a blood test to check for lyme disease. The sooner you treat that the better.

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

It does not show up in the blood for at least 45 days. The recommendation here is to wait two to three months IF you do not have an other symptoms. Also here (where all of them are so prevalent) they treat if you have one of the rashes, and test at the same time, then test again 30 days later. The "cure" does not show up for the same amount of time after treatment... so it is a several month long testing sequence to see if you have it and to see if they got it.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

That IS complicated. So, there is no such thing as preventative treatment unless the rash shows up?

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

Once you take the antibiotic (you may remember how hard it was for me to take it this year, a harsh and long term dosage - for two weeks) you have preventative for about three months for future tick bites, but other than that, no. I actually consider myself lucky. My doctor has had patients die from tick fever, so he takes it seriously, and if you have a rash sign, he tests for the entire tick panel - all four of the fevers, and two of the bacteria that are injected by ticks that can also cause disease and keeps up with the testing until he is SURE that it is gone. So many people in other states never get tested until the organ damage starts to occur, and that cannot be reversed.

Most people consider tick spray and completely covered skin as a preventative. I think it depends. I wear tick spray even though I don't go into the woods from late spring through fall, and I treat my entire yard for ticks... but I STILL get ticks just about every time I go out. The terminex guy tells me that they become resistant to chemicals, so they change their chemicals every six months. However, they only treat right around the cabin, NOT way out in the yard where my gardens are.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure we have them in our local area. I know we didn't used to, but not sure if they've spread over the years. They've always had them in northern Wisconsin. I haven't had a tick on me since I was in high school, when I was up there.

Yesterday we were in a state park only about an hour north of here. I spent a lot of time in that area ten to twenty years ago, and never saw any. If I'd known they were there, I would have done a tick check when we got home.

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

Ticks are arthropods related to mites and spiders. In Wisconsin, Ixodes scapularis, commonly called the blacklegged or the deer tick is the vector for anaplasmosis, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease, and Powassan virus infection. This tick is smaller than the wood (American dog) tick, which makes it harder to see.

From:
https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/tickborne/index.htm

This one has a map by county, that gives the likelyhood

https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/tickborne/ae/index.htm

I only clicked on a few of the links for a google search for "tick fever in Wisconsin" but I only saw lyme disease mentioned.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was really embedded, since it was the next day.

[daphnep.livejournal.com]

Gross and scary tick aside, that picture of Cyn silhouetted against fall foliage is gorgeous. Print that one out on paper and put it in an elegant frame, gorgeous.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[mummm.livejournal.com]

Your pictures are just gorgeous! I'm sorry you were in pain.