Hiking Journal: Buena Vista Prairie

• Time: Early summer.  Mid morning.
• Location: T.21N. - R.7E. Portage County, WI.
• Weather: Hot. Dry. Sunny.  Light moderate wind WSW - constant.
• Terrain: Open flat prarie grasslands grazing land.  Looks flat as Kansas.  But deceptively uneven and complex - with micro terrain features and micro ecosystem & environment.  Sandy grassy at mean - elevation.  Wide brushy low expanses.  Pot holes. cattle wallows, blow downs and mucky low spots.  Four square miles of nothin'.  With an ancient rocky sandstone outlier in the middle of it.
• Prairie: Medium-tall prairie grasses & plants in all areas.  Thick brushy willow clumps in low-lying areas.  Nice dirt road trail heading due east to the center.  Then turns due north around the outlier.
• The Plan: A full day hike schedule.  A little hiking & walking.  A little scouting. A little spotting.  Tracking.  Bird watching.  Maybe some plinking & target shooting.  Use the sand stone outlier as a base - the highest shady spot overlooking a windswept prairie.  And - do a little thinking, planning, contemplating & horizon watching.  Out in the middle of 4 square miles of quiet nothing.
• Preparation: Bring enough gear.  To carry enough water, juice, coffee, food stuffs, water, comfort gear.  And gadgets.  And more water.  Enough stuff for a fun safe rewarding and reasonably comfortable day outdoor.  Outdoors on a very warm dry, bright sun shiny prairie - in the middle of nowhere!

Start Point: Carefully scan the horizons. 

• Far horizon: all direction - bright blue sky.  No signs of changing weather.  No thunderstorms.  No sudden rain & hail squalls.
• Ground Horizon: familiarize with any buildings, barns, cell phone towers, tree lines.  Breaks & gaps.  Note locations and heading of cattle herds.
• Middle Horizon:  looks flat.  Binoculars show deceivingly uneven and diverse terrain.  Looks tough going in places.  Tall grass and brush willow thickets in low spots. High areas a mix of medium and short grasses.  Huge cow herds.  500 to 1000 or more to the east & south - 2 miles away.
• Near Horizon: more or less the same.  Scan the route to the outlier.  Outlier 3/4 mile due east.  Barely noticeable.  Looks like a tiny overgrown rock pile from here.  Gentle downward slope to a center low expanse.  Expanse thick with extra tall grass & brush willow.  Looks hotter than blazes across there - no wind.  Gentle slope back up to mean-elevation.  Up to the rock pile / outlier.  Watch & observe for 10 more minutes before hike.  Clap hands.  Bark.  Yell 'hey - hey '!  Look for bear.

Back pack feels heavy today.  Real heavy.  Better walk slower.  Back packing lots of water.  And the hiking boots.  Got lazy - kept the driving shoes ( tennis shoes ) on for convenience.  And packed up the hiking shoes.  That was a big mistake!  300 yards out - and my feet are hurting.  Bad!  And my right ankle.  And my knees.  And hips and lower back.

Stop and change into hikers.  Much better!  Foot pain & ankle pain going away.  No more knee pain.  Or hip and lower back pain.  Feel like I can hike & walk all day now!  Absolutely no doubt - good boots & shoes really are essential for any walking type of fitness or exercise program.

Lots of trails and deer tracks.  Wild Turkey or sandhill crane tracks.  Canine tracks.  A tiny dark speck.  Way -  way out there.  It's moving - turkey.

Scattered pleasant birdsongs.  All compass directions & distances.  Songbirds much more plentiful in spring than summer. 

Big burrows everywhere.  Ground hog (or something).  More tracks.  More tracks.  And - coyote crap!  On a small rise - overlooking the low expanse.

Bug repellant not working.  Can is old & about on empty.  Picked up 8 or 10 wood ticks while changing shoes.  Unusually big ticks.  Thumbtack size.  Easy to find.  Make a note to get new can of insect repellant - this stuff used to be the best - 40% Deet.

Halfway to the rock-pile / outlier.  A low lying expanse crowded with thick brush willow.  Blazing hot sun pouring in.  Stifling. Walk slow.  Absolutely no wind down here.  Willow thicket is spooky.  Would feel safer with the shotgun along.  But if I was a bear - I don't think I'd be down here today.  Too dang hot!

Gentle slope and out of tick alley.  Gentle swirling winds.  Still hotter than blazes.  But almost out of purgatory.

Back up on mean-elevation.  Back in light - moderate constant wind.  Outlier a couple hundred yards away.  Outlier flanked by grassy wide moderate slopes.  That tiny looking rock pile is actually a substantial terrain feature.  Not gigantic.  But still the biggest highest sandstone rockiest prominent feature around.  And up there - trees.  And - blessed shade!  And no bear tracks yet.  Better bark and yell and watch for 10 minutes before going up.