Ice Age Trail
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The Ice Age Trail is a
National Scenic Trail The National Trails System is a series of trails in the United States designated "to promote the preservation of, public access to, travel within, and enjoyment and appreciation of the open-air, outdoor areas and historic resources of the Nati ...
stretching in the state of
Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
in the United States. The trail is administered by the
National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
, 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.


Route

The trail roughly follows the location of the
terminal moraine A terminal moraine, also called 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 edge ...
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, a topographical and cultural region in the American Midwest, comprises southwestern Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, and the extreme northwestern corner of Illinois. Never covered by ice during the last ...
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 the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...
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 state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
. The eastern terminus of the Ice Age Trail lies at
Potawatomi State Park Potawatomi State Park is a Wisconsin state park northwest of the city of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin in the Town of Nasewaupee. It is located in Door County along Sturgeon Bay, a bay within the bay of Green Bay. Potawatomi State Park was establ ...
, along Wisconsin's
Door Peninsula The Door Peninsula is a peninsula in eastern Wisconsin, separating the southern part of the Green Bay (Lake Michigan), Green Bay from Lake Michigan. The peninsula includes northern Kewaunee County, Wisconsin, Kewaunee County, northeaster ...
off of Sturgeon Bay. Along its route, the trail crosses numerous local 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 area of land dominated by 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 function. The United Nations' ...
, 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 Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) is a government agency of the U.S. state of Wisconsin charged with conserving and managing Wisconsin's natural resources. The Wisconsin Natural Resources Board has the authority to set policy ...
, 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 National Trails System is a series of trails in the United States designated "to promote the preservation of, public access to, travel within, and enjoyment and appreciation of the open-air, outdoor areas and historic resources of the Nati ...
. The ten-mile Timms Hill Trail connects the Ice Age Trail with
Timms Hill Timms Hill or Timm's Hill is the highest natural point in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and is located in north-central Wisconsin in Timms Hill County Park in the Town of Hill in Price County. After being surveyed by Quentin Stevens of Ogema Tele ...
, Wisconsin's highest point, which is located in Price County.


History

The Ice Age Trail began as conservationist
Ray Zillmer Ray Zillmer (April 19, 1887 – December 13, 1960) was an American attorney, mountaineer and conservationist. He is best known as the founder of the Ice Age Park and Trail Foundation, Inc. (later renamed thIce Age Trail Alliance and origina ...
's idea for having an "Ice Age National Park" of 500 miles starting at
St. Croix Falls St. Croix Falls is a city in Polk County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 2,208 at the 2020 census. The city is located within the Town of St. Croix Falls. U.S. Route 8, Wisconsin Highway 35, and Wisconsin Highway 87 are three o ...
, 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
kame A kame, or ''knob'', is a glacial landform, an irregularly shaped hill or mound composed of sand, gravel and till that accumulates in a depression on a retreating glacier, and is then deposited on the land surface with further melting of the g ...
s,
drumlin A drumlin, from the Irish word ''droimnín'' ("littlest ridge"), first recorded in 1833, in the classical sense is an elongated hill in the shape of an inverted spoon or half-buried egg formed by glacial ice acting on underlying unconsolidated ...
s, and
kettle moraine Kettle Moraine is a large moraine in the state of Wisconsin, United States. It stretches from Walworth County in the south to Kewaunee County in the north. It has also been referred to as the ''Kettle Range'' and, in geological texts, as the ' ...
s. 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 1959 and the National Park Service decided in 1961 that a long park was not feasible. In 1964, Wisconsin congressman
Henry S. Reuss Henry Schoellkopf Reuss (February 22, 1912 – January 12, 2002) was a Democratic U.S. Representative from Wisconsin. Early life Henry Schoellkopf Reuss was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was the son of Gustav A. Reuss (pronounced ''Royce' ...
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 Gaylord Anton Nelson (June 4, 1916July 3, 2005) was an American politician and environmentalist from Wisconsin who served as a United States senator and governor. He was a member of the Democratic Party and the founder of Earth Day, which launche ...
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 Tr ...
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 Shorewood is a village in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 13,859 at the 2020 census. History In the early 19th century when the first European American settlers arrived, the Shorewood area was controlled by Nativ ...
during the summer of 1979. He started at
Potawatomi State Park Potawatomi State Park is a Wisconsin state park northwest of the city of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin in the Town of Nasewaupee. It is located in Door County along Sturgeon Bay, a bay within the bay of Green Bay. Potawatomi State Park was establ ...
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.


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 The Kettle Moraine State Forest is a state forest in southeastern Wisconsin. The chief feature of the reserve is the Kettle Moraine, a highly glaciated area. The area contains very hilly terrain and glacial landforms, such as kettles, kames a ...
. More recently, the Trail Alliance has developed several Distributed Camping Areas spaced as to encourage more 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 (particularily in Lincoln and Langlade Counties) provided you place your tent 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 receiver A satellite navigation device (satnav device) is a user equipment that uses one or more of several global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) to calculate the device's geographical position and provide navigational advice. Depending on the ...
s. 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 betw ...
in the Last Ice Age. Glacial features along the trail include kettles (usually as a kettle lake),
potholes A pothole is a depression in a road surface, usually asphalt pavement, where traffic has removed broken pieces of the pavement. It is usually the result of water in the underlying soil structure and traffic passing over the affected area. Water ...
,
esker An esker, eskar, eschar, or os, sometimes called an ''asar'', ''osar'', or ''serpent kame'', is a long, winding ridge of stratified sand and gravel, examples of which occur in glaciated and formerly glaciated regions of Europe and North Amer ...
s,
kame A kame, or ''knob'', is a glacial landform, an irregularly shaped hill or mound composed of sand, gravel and till that accumulates in a depression on a retreating glacier, and is then deposited on the land surface with further melting of the g ...
s, and
glacial erratic A glacial erratic is glacially deposited rock differing from the type of rock native to the area in which it rests. Erratics, which take their name from the Latin word ' ("to wander"), are carried by glacial ice, often over distances of hundred ...
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 (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...
, American red squirrel,
white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...
,
porcupine Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two families of animals: the Old World porcupines of family Hystricidae, and the New World porcupines of family, Erethizont ...
,
black bear Black bear or Blackbear may refer to: Animals * American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species * Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species Music * Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...
and
grey wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly ...
. Birds seen along the southern part of the trail include the Acadian flycatcher,
Henslow's sparrow __NOTOC__ Henslow's sparrow (''Centronyx henslowii'') is a passerine bird in the family Passerellidae. It was named by John James Audubon in honor of John Stevens Henslow. It was originally classified in the genus ''Emberiza'' and called ''Hen ...
,
red-headed woodpecker The red-headed woodpecker (''Melanerpes erythrocephalus'') is a mid-sized woodpecker found in temperate North America. Its breeding habitat is open country across southern Canada and the east-central United States. It is rated as least concern ...
or
hooded warbler The hooded warbler (''Setophaga citrina'') is a New World warbler. It breeds in eastern North America and across the eastern United States and into southernmost Canada (Ontario). It is migratory, wintering in Central America and the West Indies. ...
, while further north
white-throated sparrow The white-throated sparrow (''Zonotrichia albicollis'') is a passerine bird of the New World sparrow family Passerellidae. Etymology The genus name ''Zonotrichia'' is from Ancient Greek (, ) and (, ). The specific ''albicollis'' is from Lati ...
s,
ruffed grouse The ruffed grouse (''Bonasa umbellus'') is a medium-sized grouse occurring in forests from the Appalachian Mountains across Canada to Alaska. It is the most widely distributed game bird in North America. It is non-migratory. It is the only specie ...
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 as ...
s become more common.


Gallery

File:IATMonches.JPG, A creek along the Monches segment in
Waukesha County Waukesha County () is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 406,978, making it the third-most populous county in Wisconsin. Its county seat and largest city is Waukesha. Waukesha Co ...
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 Potawatomi State Park is a Wisconsin state park northwest of the city of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin in the Town of Nasewaupee. It is located in Door County along Sturgeon Bay, a bay within the bay of Green Bay. Potawatomi State Park was establ ...
along Wisconsin's
Door Peninsula The Door Peninsula is a peninsula in eastern Wisconsin, separating the southern part of the Green Bay (Lake Michigan), Green Bay from Lake Michigan. The peninsula includes northern Kewaunee County, Wisconsin, Kewaunee County, northeaster ...
File:Ice Age Trail Sign.jpg, Sign at the Table Bluff segment near Cross Plains File:KettlebowlSkiArea1.jpg, The
Kettlebowl Kettlebowl is a small ski area near Bryant, Wisconsin, founded in 1956 and run as a non-profit operation by volunteers of the Langlade County Ski Club.
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 The Portage Canal was built to connect the Fox River and Wisconsin River at Portage, Wisconsin along the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway. For a time, it completed a route from the north Atlantic Ocean, through the St. Lawrence Seaway and down the Missi ...
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 Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...


See also

* ''Geological Features of Wisconsin'' *
List of hiking trails in Wisconsin This is a highly incomprehensive list of hiking trails in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The list does not include many smaller trails that are found in places such as Wisconsin state parks, and it includes multi-purpose biking trails that also fun ...
*
Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin (; September 25, 1843 – November 15, 1928) was an American geologist and educator. In 1893 he founded the '' Journal of Geology'', of which he was editor for many years. Biography Chamberlin was born September 25, 18 ...
, ''Geology of Wisconsin'' (1877) *
Ahnapee State Trail The Ahnapee State Trail (also known as the Ahnapee Trail) is a multi-use trail along the Ahnapee River and the Kewaunee River in northeastern Wisconsin. Route Beginning in downtown Sturgeon Bay, the trail winds south along the Ahnapee and Kewa ...
, which coincides with the Ice Age Trail in the north ;Stages *
Quaternary glaciation The Quaternary glaciation, also known as the Pleistocene glaciation, is an alternating series of glacial and interglacial periods during the Quaternary period that began 2.58 Ma (million years ago) and is ongoing. Although geologists describe ...
*
Illinoian Stage The Illinoian Stage is the name used by Quaternary geologists in North America to designate the period c.191,000 to c.130,000 years ago, during the middle Pleistocene, when sediments comprising the Illinoian Glacial Lobe were deposited. It precedes ...
*
Laurentide Ice Sheet The Laurentide Ice Sheet was a massive sheet of ice that covered millions of square miles, including most of Canada and a large portion of the Northern United States, multiple times during the Quaternary glacial epochs, from 2.58 million years a ...
*
Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
* Last glacial period *
Driftless Area The Driftless Area, a topographical and cultural region in the American Midwest, comprises southwestern Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, and the extreme northwestern corner of Illinois. Never covered by ice during the last ...
;Components *
Interglacial An interglacial period (or alternatively interglacial, interglaciation) is a geological interval of warmer global average temperature lasting thousands of years that separates consecutive glacial periods within an ice age. The current Holocene in ...
(longer warm period during ice age, such as today) *
Interstadial Stadials and interstadials are phases dividing the Quaternary period, or the last 2.6 million years. Stadials are periods of colder climate while interstadials are periods of warmer climate. Each Quaternary climate phase is associated with a Ma ...
(brief warm period during ice age, weaker than interglacial) *
Stadial Stadials and interstadials are phases dividing the Quaternary period, or the last 2.6 million years. Stadials are periods of colder climate while interstadials are periods of warmer climate. Each Quaternary climate phase is associated with a Ma ...
(brief cooler period during interglacial, such as
Older Dryas The Older Dryas was a stadial (cold) period between the Bølling and Allerød interstadials (warmer phases), about 14,000 years Before Present, towards the end of the Pleistocene. Its date is not well defined, with estimates varying by 400 years, ...
,
Younger Dryas The Younger Dryas (c. 12,900 to 11,700 years BP) was a return to glacial conditions which temporarily reversed the gradual climatic warming after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, c. 27,000 to 20,000 years BP). The Younger Dryas was the last stage ...
,
Little Ice Age The Little Ice Age (LIA) was a period of regional cooling, particularly pronounced in the North Atlantic region. It was not a true ice age of global extent. The term was introduced into scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939. Ma ...
) *
Little ice age The Little Ice Age (LIA) was a period of regional cooling, particularly pronounced in the North Atlantic region. It was not a true ice age of global extent. The term was introduced into scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939. Ma ...
*
Post-glacial rebound Post-glacial rebound (also called isostatic rebound or crustal rebound) is the rise of land masses after the removal of the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period, which had caused isostatic depression. Post-glacial rebound a ...
*
Timeline of glaciation There have been five or six major ice ages in the history of Earth over the past 3 billion years. The Late Cenozoic Ice Age began 34 million years ago, its latest phase being the Quaternary glaciation, in progress since 2.58 million years ago. ...
*
Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield (french: Bouclier canadien ), also called the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), the anc ...
*
Glacial history of Minnesota The glacial history of Minnesota is most defined since the onset of the last glacial period, which ended some 10,000 years ago. Within the last million years, most of the Midwestern United States and much of Canada were covered at one time or a ...
*
Lake Agassiz Lake Agassiz was a large glacial lake in central North America. Fed by glacial meltwater at the end of the last glacial period, its area was larger than all of the modern Great Lakes combined. First postulated in 1823 by William H. Keating, it ...
*
Wisconsin glaciation The Wisconsin Glacial Episode, also called the Wisconsin glaciation, was the most recent glacial period of the North American ice sheet complex. This advance included the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, which nucleated in the northern North American Cor ...


References


Further reading

* Ice Age Trail Alliance. ''Ice Age Trail Atlas''. * Ice Age Trail Alliance. ''Ice Age Trail Companion Guide 2011''. *Mittlefehldt, Sarah
"The origins of Wisconsin's Ice Age Trail: Ray Zillner's path to protect the past,"
''Wisconsin Magazine of History'', vol. 90, no. 3 (Spring 2007) *Reuss, Henry S., Tanner, Gilbert, Dinsmore, Philip, Hellman, Robert, with The Milwaukee Public Museum, On the Trail of the Ice Age: a hiker’s and biker’s guide to Wisconsin’s Ice Age National Scientific Reserve and Trail (January 1976) * *


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 PBS Wisconsin (formerly Wisconsin Public Television or WPT) is a state network of non-commercial educational television stations operated primarily by the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. It c ...
{{coord, 43, 26, 01.8, N, 89, 43, 20.9, W, type:landmark_region:US-WI, display=title 1980 establishments in Wisconsin Backpacking Hiking Hiking trails in Wisconsin Long-distance trails in the United States National Scenic Trails of the United States Orienteering Outdoor recreation Protected areas established in 1980 Walking