You, Me and the Devil Makes 3

Aug. 22
Woke up to Luke yelling at me for not finishing my beer the night before. I don't know how it happened, but that was a travesty. The last few sips of the warm Lake Louie was great. Luke and Letha got me going just in time to catch the ferry. I enjoyed staying with them. Being a teacher, Luke is of course loaded. When he picked me up for lunch the day before, he had $100's falling out of his pocket. He didn't know what to do with them all. His friend Chris, on the other hand, is also a teacher but doesn't flaunt around his affluence. Luke may be an asshole, but he's from Iowa so you can't hold it against him too much, plus he is a helluva griller. He is also sort of my trail mentor as I knew nothing about hiking before talking to him, again, amazing for an Iowan. Letha is so pleasant and nice and is great at feigning interest in what I had to say. There are "gems" along the IAT like Gibraltar Rock, but I think we should have a list of unofficial gems like the Washington House in Two Rivers, Luke's grilling and maybe this Johann's I keep hearing about in Waushara county. I'm sure there are plenty more out there.

I took a pleasant trip across the ferry and immediately stopped for ice cream. It may have been 10:30 in the morning, but it tasted sooo good. My bureau coworker Joe called and said he would hike through Devil's Lake with me. Hell yeah! We met up, had a PBR, and I ate the lunch that Luke packed - all the leftovers from the previous night. Now, thats trail food! It was nice walking with Joe beause he knows the park so well and filled me in on everything I was seeing. I had never explored Devil's Lake before so hiking through it was a real treat! The views from the bluffs were amazing and the rock work to build the steps was mindblowing. My knee was hurting pretty good going up, but going down the pain went away. The pain is coming from under the knee cap so it can't be too serious!

We got to the park office and Katie came to pick us up. We went to my campsite, had some beers and dominated the taco's Katie had brought. She planted taco's in my head Thursday and I was finally able to scratch that itch Sunday night. They were great! Giese stopped by and had a beer or two with us. It was a lot of fun to have 3 friends hanging out with me at the end of the day. I have some pretty special friends! Giese left and we dropped Joe off at his car so Katie and I went swimming as night was settling in over Devil's Lake. The air was a bit chilly and so was the water, but a Baywatch entrance helped warm me up. What a refreshing way to end the day! It was a lot of hard walking through Devil's Lake and I know more awaits me as I continue my journey.