Skip to main content

Veltris in the Vilderness

Search This Blog

Day 2

Posted by Victor Veltri on September 01, 2025

It rained heavy overnight and the trail and our feet are very wet. We did quite a bit of water forging during our 12 mile hike today.

The cold water felt great on our feet but then it is so damp that our shoes will likely not be dry for days, especially with more rain on the way for the next several days. At least it will cool things down a bit!

Popular Posts

Training hike - 6 weeks to go!

Time until departure: 6 weeks Location: Devil's Lake State Park Distance: 14 miles Weather: Rainy morning into a sunny afternoon Mood: Feeling good! I had the chance to get out this weekend for a training hike with my trusty 25 pound Costco bag of flour. I chose this hike up and down the steep rocky bluffs to have about the average elevation gain and distance we'll be tackling at the start of our SHT trek. Today was my second time hiking this route and thankfully it's already feeling easier than the first time. Devil's Lake is best in the rain - nobody is there! But it also means slippery and treacherous rock stairs down the bluffs. I slipped once, luckily on relatively flat ground. No damage to me or my pack! As the drizzly morning gave way into sunny weather the trails became livelier and I tackled my last climbs of the day. When another hiker jokingly offered to take my pack on the last set of stairs, I told him it was full of flour. "Are you baking b...

Shakedown trip - Kickapoo Valley Reserve

Time until departure: 4 weeks Location: Kickapoo Valley Reserve Weather: Humid and hazy with wildfire smoke Mood: Relieved to be carrying real gear instead of flour This is my last fully free weekend for long training hikes, so I decided to make the most of it with a shakedown backpacking trip, taking all the gear with me that I'll use on the trip. Kickapoo Valley Reserve is about 2 hours from Madison in Wisconsin's Driftless Region, a landscape of ridges and valleys that escaped the effects of glaciers that scoured the rest of the state flat. No drifts here A friend from Milwaukee accompanied me on the hike and shortly after we set off from the trailhead, we encountered a group of tipsy horseback riders, beers in hand. After failing to guide their horses up the overgrown trail to the top of the bluff, two of them turned back and passed us. One giddily exclaimed, "We're way out here!" and the other let us know it was his first time on a...

3-Day Practice Hike

Anthony said I needed to practice hiking in the rain, so I started a 3-day hike in the rain with my rain gear on. But of course, I forgot my backpack rain cover. There was no one else crazy enough to be in the park in the rain other than the ranger but she was getting paid. Fortunately, it was a light rain and stopped after about two hours. It had rained heavy the night before and several trees were downed & some fell across the trail. I hiked 16 miles this first day. Then 20 miles and 16 miles the next two days. My feet were not happy but with pre-taping, new glove socks for better wicking, and stopping about every 5 miles and airing out my feet, I only had one small blister on a big toe that I caught early and taped further. Although, toward the end of day two's 20 miles, I was ready to call Anthony & tell him my almost 60-year old feet can't do this trip but with a few adjustments, I felt much better at t...

Powered by Blogger