Ted Fritsch park trail: A dog tale

When we lived in Green Bay on Summer Place I got into the wonderful habit of walking our dog Boomer on a trail that began at Ted Fritsch Park.  The park itself was just about five minutes from our home, just across Mason Street (HWY 54) and down a hill past a few houses.  The winding entrance to the park is flanked by a grove of pine trees on the right and a ball park on the left.  Surrounding the playground and groomed fields is woodland belonging to the Oneida Indian tribe.  This wood was the perfect place for human and dog to bond every morning about 6 AM.

Boomer, a spry Australian shepherd-border collie mix, absolutely loved these woods!  As we reached the trailhead I would take the leash off and he would run like the wind through the long grass incline into the woods itself.  I wouldn't see much of him unless I whistled, as he would have squirrels to track.

As for me, I would enjoy the view, the sun, smells, and wildlife.  The narrow trail quickly hit an incline with a view and scent of abundant lush undergrowth, seasonal wild flowers, downed tree trunks, deciduous and pine trees and last seasons dead leaves underfoot.  The sunlight would prism down through the tall trees here and there and cause me to stop and say a prayer of thanks. Periodically, Boomer would check in, huffing and puffing with a big smile on his face, and then run off again.  Pretty soon the trail would slope sharply down, then around a bend and open to a clearing where I could see the rushing creek to my left.  Sometimes Boomer would head down to the water for a drink before whizzing back up to look for more squirrels.  After climbing the next hill we would arrive at the flat forested area stretching some distance before hitting a golf course.  There were several large tree trunks across this stretch of trail.  This was a great place to teach Boomer to "jump"; he had his own obstacle course there and loved it.  Sometimes we would find signs of someone's campfire - fire ring with beer bottles scattered.  I would curse whoever was too lazy to clean up after themselves and vow to bring a garbage bag next time.  We'd walk the big loop of the trail eventually meeting our path back out past the creek, down, around, up, and down until finally arriving back at Ted Fritsch park.

We very rarely ran into any humans on our morning hike, but occasionally would see wildlife. Wildlife could range from three deer, to a snake, to rabbits, squirrels, ground squirrels, to butterflies and bees.  Not to mention mosquitoes.

Boomer's gone now - been deceased for 5 years.  But whenever I'm in Green Bay visiting, I like to go back to Ted Fritsch woods and reunite with Boomer's spirit, which is no doubt there chasing some phantom squirrel, and eager to be with me too.