So. St. Croix County, western Wisconsin. A spot o' Googling later, I discovered that the highest point in the county is a hill just north of the town of Wilson. The lowest point is the county's southwest corner, on the east bank of the St. Croix river. A journey of about 38 miles through Wisconsin's rolling farmland lay between the two points, a more than manageable distance, and, as it happened, my mother was driving past Wilson the next morning en route to her Retired Hippie Meeting, otherwise known as a Tuesday late-morning Yoga class. A plan comes together.
Clocking in at a modest 1320 feet, or 402 meters, the hill in question rises up above Wilson on 310th street. I hopped out at the top and got my bike ready for the day's journey. The weather was perfect -- warm but mild, sunny, low wind. I consulted my map one last time and hit the road.
I swung south of I-94, then headed west. Wisconsin is pretty straight-forward: it's mostly laid out in a grid, with about a mile between each cross road, a big patchwork of square sections of fields with quiet roads separating acreage. Traffic was minimal, and mostly I just saw a lot of this:
And also this:
As the sign suggested, I passed a number of Amish farms, one with a horse-drawn plow tilling the fields. Above the field a red-tailed hawk soared at a low altitude hunting for mice or snakes amongst the crops, with three red-winged blackbirds trying to chase it away.
Despite the relatively short height difference between the highest to lowest point, this part of Wisconsin is an endless series of hills, rippling across the landscape in unyielding numbers. None are particularly tall, but after climbing the twentieth hill, I was starting to lose enthusiasm for my home state's landscape; the blissful descents lost their magic as each one boomeranged back into an imminent ascent. As I neared River Falls, about 32 miles into the journey, the beautiful hills that I love had become THOSE BASTARD HILLS THAT I HATE. But, going through River Falls meant that I was nearly there. Just a few more miles and I'd begin the final descent to the St. Croix River.
I headed west on M along the southern border of St. Croix County. Avoiding a final hill, the tallest I'd yet seen, I cut one mile north and got on a road which, luckily for me, became the very road I was searching for, which led to the public access beach where my journey ended. The road sloped gently down toward the river, so naturally the only option was to coast downhill with my arms out to the sides in full wingspan extension -- rather a spectacle. I took a sharp left down a steep hill to the beach, where the river opened up in all directions. Made it!
Along for the ride.
So what CAN I do?
Summit to Sea (or hill to river?) challenge: completed.
