The Old Trail
“We’re going down again,” Dane announces, having pointed this out three times before.
We’re hiking the Old Settler’s Trail at Wildcat Mountain State Park. Dane wants to be done hiking and settled down somewhere with a cool glass of water instead. Every elevation change triggers a comment from him, as if he’s emceeing an outdoor trail event: Now we’re heading up; we’re going down; it’s going to get worse; we’re going to have to go straight up soon.
“Be here now,” I quip. “Have you ever heard that advice?”
“Yeah, Ram Dass.”
“How about ‘no mud, no lotus’?”
Dane sighs and we keep trudging along.
Despite the complaining, we both agree that this 2.5-mile loop is one of our all-time favorite hikes. Today it’s raining off and on, but thanks to the thick tree cover we stay dry. The cooler weather is perfect for hiking. Still, today we both feel sluggish, like perhaps we’re getting older.
Since we've gotten a later-than-usual start to our hiking this year, we didn’t buy an annual Wisconsin State Park sticker, but because we’re “seniors” the day fee is only $3, and well worth it.
If you head to Wildcat to hike the Old Settler's Trail, stop first at the overlook and walk the short path to where you can take in the grand view of our gorgeous countryside. There’s a newer post and sign in front of the overlook, encouraging visitors, “Take a Selfie.” The panoramic view makes a fantastic backdrop.
That sounds like a good idea, and we’re intrigued, but we can’t figure out how to do it. We set our phone on the little ledge on the selfie post, and it falls off. We turn our phone and set it down again and it stays. Progress! By this time two folks with a dog have come by to see what we’re up to.
“We can snap your picture the old-fashioned way,” the man suggests.
“Nah, we want to figure out this selfie thing.”
Dane sets the timer, but 5 seconds doesn’t give him enough time to join me where I’m standing. Snap! We get a pic of me looking toward the camera, mouth open, and Dane’s back.
The man offers again and we still decline. The woman gets bored and takes the dog for a walk. Amused, the man watches as Dane fumbles with the phone, looking for something that will give us a better chance at an overlook photo with both of us in it. Once he realizes he can set the timer for 15 seconds, he sets the camera back on the little ledge. It falls off again. Then we have a few false starts where Dane thinks he’s set the camera, hurries over, and we stand there grinning like two old fools, waiting for the snap that never comes.
Finally, with the timer set for 15 seconds and the phone securely on its stand, Dane clicks it and makes it over to my side, and the camera snaps. Pretty cool, we both think, as we congratulate ourselves on having learned something new for the day.
The Old Settler’s Trail does have a lot of ups and downs, but it’s well-marked and easy to follow. Our favorite part is the enormous rock on the side of the trail with stairs leading up to it. Dane is quick to point out that if we go up the stairs, we’ll have to come back down them. Thank you, Mr. Emcee!
We finish the hike and are both thankful we did it, but we laugh at all the complaining about the elevation change, and all the hiking time lost to futzing around trying to learn how to take a selfie.
On our way out of the park, we wave goodbye to the park attendant, who graciously hadn’t asked if we qualified for the senior discount until we mentioned it. For us, Old Settler’s Trail is well-named!