For my February Hike I decided to explore Baxter’s Hollow in Sauk County. I brought my bff along for company. The day we hiked it started out cloudy with temps in the 20’s and about halfway through the sun came out and the temps started to drop.

 

Baxter’s Hollow is a Nature Conservatory property located in the Baraboo hills just north of Sauk City. It is over 5,000 acers but only has one trail running south to north through it. There are hollows and hilltops, rocky outcroppings, abandoned camps, creeks and springs and a deep in the forest feel.  The trail starts at the end of Stones Pocket road, a mile or so from Hwy 12. (Note- if you turn from hwy 12 onto Kings Corner road there is no street sign marking Stones Pocket Road.) 

 

After our little detour due to the missing street sign we arrived at the park and were pleased to see we were the only ones there (unless you count the guy sitting in his car talking on the phone, but he was clearly not there to hike).  There was a good 5 inches of snow on the ground but we decided not to take the snowshoes because the snow on the trail looked pretty packed down.   The first part of the hike is on an old road that is now blocked off from traffic. (We found out why later) Within a few yards you get a glimpse of the beauty of this place.  To your left there are several large rock outcroppings that we were going to explore on the way back but due to an unfortunate wet foot incident we never made it back. (more on that a little later) A little further down the trail crosses and then begins to follow Otter creek,  a very sweet meandering creek with boulders strewn about in and around it. In about 1/4 a mile (I’m really bad estimating distances so it might be longer or shorter ;) you come across the reason the road is closed, the bridge going over the creek was washed out during the floods of ’07.  It looks kind of sketchy but you can walk across it without much trouble.

 

 (Note – up to this point the trail was wheelchair accessible if you could get past the gate at the trail head)

 

To the left another 1/8 mile up the road you come to the real trail head, the road continues to the right.  Up a short distance from here you will come to a very enchanting little spring filled with mossy covered stones. In the winter it is nice to see the green contrasting with all the white snow.

 

Heading north the trail tops off at an area that used to be a campground of some sort. You can still see the foundation of an old building and the remains of a fireplace.  The trail continues on from here and becomes more rugged. We stopped at the fireplace for lunch and decided to start hiking back to the car since the temps were dropping fast.

 

On the way back we took a little detour off the trail to follow the creek for a while where it leaves the trail to the east.  This proved to be the most memorable part of the hike for me.  Here the creek was mostly frozen over. We decided to follow the foot prints in the snow leading down the creek.  At one point we stopped to talk about our fear of ice and how unpredictable ice can be on rivers and then continued on anyway. I felt pretty confident that the water below us was only a few inches deep so if I did go through I wouldn’t get wet.

 

Surprise!

 

Not a minute later I was up over my knee in icy cold water!  I was on solid ground one minute and then the next min the ground below me give way without warning.  I quickly got out and proceeded to laugh hysterically, why it was so funny I have no idea.  The temps were in the teens by now and I was wet up to my knee. It was at this point that we decided it was best to make our way back to the car as fast as possible. Going back to the trail seemed like the long way so we went off trail and hiked through the deep snow.  Looking back at the spot in the ice that I had just went through I noticed the hole was in the shape of a perfect heart! Isn’t that sweet?!?!