Exploration

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
—T. S. Eliot

My friend John and I take a long walk through along the Ice Age Trail through Wisconsin's Lapham Peak State Park. When we planned the walk, we hoped to snowshoe over a new 14" blanket of snow. However, as temperatures climb to the 40s, we pick our way over iced tracks up and down hills in the woods, and stride along the clearer paths through the meadows and prairies.

Our hike begins at the 45' tower, perched atop the highest point in Waukesha County. We inch our way down the hill, the path slick with ice and the woods too dense to allow surer footing alongside the trail. The smell of woodfire rises along with the ripping buzz of chainsaws, and soon we pass woodcutters clearing the undergrowth from beneath the hardwoods. Boardwalks guide us over cattailed wetlands and the path winds through prairie tall grass, both landscapes stark and beautiful through the muffling fog that creeps over the land.

Venturing onto a swirling cluster of bike paths in order to loop back, we ascend and descend moraine hills. Along the path, I spot a clear plastic tarp, blown from Cushing Park Road. I consider stashing the tarp in my pack, but it's huge and dirty; I don't want to take this burden.

Fog thick along the maze of looping paths confuses us. Standing at a crossroads already crossed, both of us spread trail maps smooth, both of us consult compasses, both of us are confounded. Despite our intentions, an easily-identified road cutting through the park, and very clear compass indicators, intuition tugs north when we want to go south. The indecision grows intolerable; I suggest a path and John readily agrees.

Ten steps along our chosen path, we spot the tarp—the one piece of trash in the park serves as a waymark. The spell lifts as we laugh at ourselves and follow the compass to the south and west, tracing our wayward path back up the thigh-shredding hills to the foot of the tower hill where we began.