The Ice Age Trail is a National Scenic Trail stretching in the state of

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

in the United States. The trail is administered by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

, and is constructed and maintained by private and public agencies including the Ice Age Trail Alliance, a non-profit and member-volunteer based organization with local chapters. It became an official unit of the National Park System in 2023.

Route

The trail roughly follows the location of the

terminal moraine A terminal moraine, also called an end moraine, is a type of moraine that forms at the terminal (edge) of a glacier, marking its maximum advance. At this point, debris that has accumulated by plucking and abrasion, has been pushed by the front e ...

from the last Ice Age. As the route traverses the moraine, it sometimes meanders into areas west of the moraine, including the

Driftless Area The Driftless Area, also known as Bluff Country and the Paleozoic Plateau, is a topographic and cultural region in the Midwestern United States that comprises southwestern Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, and the extreme ...

in southwestern Wisconsin. The trail passes through 30 of Wisconsin's 72 counties, from the northwestern part of the state to the

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...

shoreline in the east. The western end of the trail is at Interstate State Park along the St. Croix River, which is the border between northwestern Wisconsin and eastern

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. The eastern terminus of the Ice Age Trail lies at Potawatomi State Park, on Wisconsin's Door Peninsula near the city of Sturgeon Bay. Along its route, the trail crosses numerous city and county parks,

state parks State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

and

forests A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological functio ...

, state wildlife and natural areas, and the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. The trail often coincides with other trails within various county and municipal parks. It passes through the land of various owners, including the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the Ice Age Trail Alliance, and hundreds of private citizens. As of 2014, the trail was long. At one point, the trail separates into two just north of Devil's Lake State Park. The western portion of trail, in length, is referred to as the Western Bifurcation. The Western Bifurcation consists mostly of proposed trail sections (though several miles of established trail do exist). The Western Bifurcation is rejoined by its 75-mile eastern counterpart near the town of Coloma. Though the eastern portion of the trail is more readily developed than its western counterpart, both are officially recognized portions of the Ice Age Trail. As of 2008, the trail consisted of of traditional hiking paths, of multi-use trails, and of connecting roads and sidewalks. As of October 2020, is completed with over connected by connecting routes (usually roads). The Ice Age Trail has one of a few National Side Trails, the Timms Hill National Trail. National Side Trails are national trails established by the National Trails System Act. The ten-mile Timms Hill Trail connects the Ice Age Trail with Timms Hill, Wisconsin's highest point, which is located in Price County.

History

The Ice Age Trail began as conservationist Ray Zillmer's idea for having an "Ice Age National Park" of 500 miles starting at St. Croix Falls, going south through Madison, northeast through the Kettle Moraine areas ending near Sturgeon Bay. The park would travel through the terminal moraine of the most recent glacier to push through Wisconsin about 10,000 years ago. He envisioned that the park would protect features like kames, drumlins, and kettle moraines. In 1958, Zillmer founded the Ice Age Park & Trail Foundation (now the Ice Age Trail Alliance (IATA)). In a 1959 interview in Wisconsin Alumnus magazine, he was quoted "This land must be purchased soon, before the population explosion following the opening of the St. Lawrence waterways affects Wisconsin, before the hills are pre-empted by private homes and the land becomes too expensive." Zillmer died in December 1960 and the National Park Service decided in 1961 that a long park was not feasible. In 1964, Wisconsin congressman Henry S. Reuss sponsored the Ice Age National Scientific Reserve bill; the bill was signed to establish nine units which he hoped would be connected by a trail (six were utilized). In 1968, Wisconsin U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson co-sponsored the National Trails System Act which established the

Appalachian Trail The Appalachian Trail, also called the A.T., is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian Tra ...

and

Pacific Crest Trail The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), officially designated as the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, is a long-distance hiking and equestrian trail closely aligned with the highest portion of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, which lie ...

. During the summer of 1974, Reuss’ Legislative Assistant James H. Rathlesberger led a team of three Reuss staff routing the trail across Wisconsin. It was established by Act of Congress in 1980, in large part as a result of the efforts of Reuss, who in 1976 authored the book ''On the Trail of the Ice Age.'' The first person to backpack the entire length of the Ice Age Trail was 20-year-old James J. Staudacher of Shorewood, Wisconsin during the summer of 1979. He started at Potawatomi State Park in May 1979. Staudacher received maps with the proposed route and supply packages from Reuss and completed the walk at St. Croix Falls in August. Portions of the trail used existing trails in the northern unit of Kettle Moraine State Forest. In 2023, the National Park Service recognized the trail as a unit of the National Park Service. Two other national scenic trails also became the country’s newest units of the National Park Service.

Use

The trail is open primarily to hiking, although other activities are allowed where the trail follows other existing routes. The trail received an estimated annual usage of 2.3 million people from a 2019 survey. The trail is divided into just over one hundred segments. These segments range in length between about one and 16 miles. Though segmented, in many places along the way, coming out of the woods at the end of one segment simply means crossing the road and re-entering the woods alongside the sign welcoming you to the next. There are numerous opportunities for longer-distance treks, with camping opportunities including shelters in both units of the Kettle Moraine State Forest. More recently, the Trail Alliance has developed several DCAs (dispersed camping areas) spaced as to encourage more overnight backpacking treks--22 such areas exist today (as of January 2023). On the northwestern third of the trail, tent camping is allowed in some areas (particularly in Lincoln and Langlade Counties) provided tents are placed at least 200 feet from the trail. As of 2020, there are 19 local IATA chapters which are trying to turn connecting routes into permanent segments. The chapters' biggest obstacle is acquiring land from private owners and permanently protecting it. Several trail chapters offer awards for completing hikes of all segments within their jurisdiction, and the Alliance also has a " cold cache" program to encourage hikers to seek out glacial features along the trail using GPS receivers. One study of trail users found that those who stay overnight are more likely to camp than use other forms of lodging.An Analysis of Ice Age Trail Users
by Russell Kashian and Dr. Matthew Winden, Fiscal and Economic Research Center University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, 2020

Sights along the trail

Primary attractions include topography left by

glaciation A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate be ...

in the Last Ice Age. Glacial features along the trail include kettles (usually as a kettle lake), potholes, eskers, kames, and

glacial erratic A glacial erratic is a glacially deposited rock (geology), rock differing from the type of country rock (geology), rock native to the area in which it rests. Erratics, which take their name from the Latin word ' ("to wander"), are carried by gla ...

s. Many of the best examples of glacial features in Wisconsin are exhibited in units of the Ice Age National Scientific Reserve, most of which lie along the trail. Numerous species of mammals can be seen along the trail, including

red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe and Asia, plus ...

American red squirrel The American red squirrel (''Tamiasciurus hudsonicus'') is one of three species of tree squirrels currently classified in the genus ''Tamiasciurus'', known as the pine squirrels (the others are the Douglas squirrel, ''T. douglasii'', and the sou ...

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known Common name, commonly as the whitetail and the Virginia deer, is a medium-sized species of deer native to North America, North, Central America, Central and South America. It is the ...

porcupine Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp Spine (zoology), spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two Family (biology), families of animals: the Old World porcupines of the family Hystricidae, and the New ...

, black bear and

grey wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...

. Birds seen along the southern part of the trail include the

Acadian flycatcher The Acadian flycatcher (''Empidonax virescens'') is a small insect-eating bird of the tyrant flycatcher family. Description Adults have olive upperparts, darker on the wings and tail, with whitish underparts; they have a white eye ring, white ...

, Henslow's sparrow, red-headed woodpecker or hooded warbler. In contrast, further north white-throated sparrows, ruffed grouse and

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche ...

s become more common.

Gallery

File:IATMonches.JPG, A creek along the Monches segment in Waukesha County File:YellowBlaze.JPG, Yellow blazes mark the path of the trail File:IATPorcupine.jpg, A porcupine in Lincoln County's New Wood State Wildlife Area File:Western Terminus of the Ice Age Trail (St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin).jpg, Western terminus of the trail at Interstate State Park in St. Croix Falls File:Ice Age National Scenic Trail Eastern Terminus.jpg, Eastern terminus of the trail at Potawatomi State Park along Wisconsin's Door Peninsula File:Ice Age Trail Sign.jpg, Sign at the Table Bluff segment near Cross Plains File:KettlebowlSkiArea1.jpg, The Kettlebowl Ski Area near Bryant lies along the trail File:IAT New Wood.JPG, Northern landscape in Lincoln County's New Wood State Wildlife Area File:Ice Age Trail at Portage Canal.jpg, Crossing the Portage Canal File:Ice Age Trail bog Taylor County WI.JPG, Crossing a bog in the Chequamegon National Forest in Taylor County File:Ice Age Trail Picnic Lake.jpg, October view of Picnic Lake west of Cornell File:Ice Age Trail Holy Hill Segment August 2023 01.jpg, Holy Hill Segment during summer File:Ice Age Trail Holy Hill Segment October 2024 05.jpg, Holy Hill Segment during fall

References

External links

Ice Age Trail Alliance websiteIce Age National Scenic Trail, National Park Service websiteWisconsin DNRHiking Journals and Photos from the Ice Age TrailIce Age Trail Design
Video produced by Wisconsin Public Television {{coord, 43, 26, 01.8, N, 89, 43, 20.9, W, type:landmark_region:US-WI, display=title 1980 establishments in Wisconsin Hiking trails in Wisconsin Long-distance trails in the United States National Scenic Trails of the United States Protected areas established in 1980 National Park Service areas in Wisconsin