| Ice Age Trail | |
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| Ice Age Trail Sign, near Devil's Lake State Park | |
| Length | 600 mi completed 1,200 mi planned |
| Location | Wisconsin, United States |
| Trailheads | Green Bay, Wisconsin Interstate State Park |
| Use | Hiking, Snowshoeing |
| Sights | Glacial landforms |
The Ice Age Trail is a designated National Scenic Trail in the United States that will run some 1,200 miles (1,900 km) through the state of Wisconsin once completed.[1] It was established by Act of Congress in 1980 due in large part to the efforts of Wisconsin Congressman Henry S. Reuss, who in 1976 authored the book On the Trail of the Ice Age. The Trail's origins, however, date to the 1950s with the dream of Milwaukee native Ray Zillmer, who in 1958 founded the Ice Age Park & Trail Foundation (now the Ice Age Trail Alliance, Inc.) with the goal of establishing a National Park in Wisconsin running the route of the last glaciation.[2]
As of 2008, the trail is 1,099.5 miles (1,769.5 km) long with 467 miles (752 km) being traditional hiking paths, 103.2 miles (166.1 km) being multi-use trails, and 529.3 miles being connecting roads and sidewalks.[3] The trail wanders through 30 of Wisconsin's 72 counties,[4] following the southernmost location of the last continental glaciation. The western end of the trail is at Interstate State Park. The eastern end is at Potawatomi State Park in Door County. According to Henry S. Reuss's book, 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.
While the trail is primarily administered by the National Park Service,[5] the trail is also constructed and maintained by numerous private and public agencies including, most notably, the Ice Age Trail Alliance, a non-profit member- and volunteer-based organization with 21 local chapters.[6] Like other National Scenic Trails, the trail often coincides with other trails within various county and municipal parks. The trail thus passes through the land of various owners, including the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the Ice Age Trail Alliance, and hundreds of private citizens.[3]
The Ice Age Trail is also host to one of only two designated national side trails, the Timms Hill National Trail.[7] National Side Trails are a fourth, but as yet very seldom used, category of 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. The other designated National Side Trail is the 186-mile Anvik Connector, which joins the Iditarod Trail to the village of Anvik, Alaska..[8]
Two books are published by the Ice Age Trail Alliance to help visitors learn about or hike the Ice Age Trail: the Ice Age Trail Atlas of maps and the Ice Age Trail Companion Guide 2008, which provides a detailed description of the Trail's route along with accommodations along and near the Trail.
Contents |
Gallery
 The Western Terminus of the Ice Age Trail at Interstate State Park in St. Croix Falls, WI |
 An Ice Age Trail sign at the Table Bluff segment near Cross Plains, WI |
 Kettlebowl Ski Area near Bryant, WI |
Units of the Ice Age National Scientific Reserve
The Ice Age Trail connects several of the nine Ice Age National Scientific Reserve units established through Federal legislation in 1964 and 1970. These units are administered by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.[9]
- Two Creeks Buried Forest State Natural Area-located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the foot of the Door Peninsula.
- Kettle Moraine State Forest
- Campbellsport Drumlins
- Glacial features: Drumlins[10]
- Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area
- Glacial features: Extinct glacial lake[10]
- Cross Plains (Cross Plains Feasibility Study)
- Glacial features: Driftless topography, sub-glacially formed gorge[10]
- Devil's Lake State Park
- Glacial features: Devil's Lake, terminal moraine[10]
- Mill Bluff State Park
- Glacial features: Sandstone buttes that were former islands in Glacial Lake Wisconsin and the former lake bed.[10]
- Chippewa Moraine State Recreation Area
- Glacial features: Kettle lakes and ponds, stagnant ice terain, ice-walled lake plains.[10]
- Interstate State Park
For additional summary of each area, see the Ice Age National Scientific Reserve article.
See also
Stages
- Quaternary glaciation
- Illinoian Stage
- Laurentide ice sheet
- Pleistocene
- Last glacial period
- Driftless Area
Components
- Interglacial (longer warm period during ice age, such as today)
- Interstadial (brief warm period during ice age, weaker than interglacial)
- stadial (brief cooler period during interglacial, such as Older Dryas, Younger Dryas, Little Ice Age)
- Little ice age
- Post-glacial rebound
- Timeline of glaciation
- Canadian Shield
- Glacial history of Minnesota
- Lake Agassiz
- Wisconsin glaciation
References
- ^ Ice Age Trail National Park Service Web Site FAQ
- ^ Ice Age Trail Alliance History
- ^ a b Ice Age Trail Alliance FAQ
- ^ Ice Age Trail Alliance Chapters
- ^ Ice Age Trail National Park Service Web Site - Management
- ^ Ice Age Trail National Park Service Web Site - Partners
- ^ Timm's Hill Trail Web Site
- ^ About.com article on National Trails system
- ^ Ice Age, Nature and Science
- ^ a b c d e f g h Ice Age National Scientific Reserve brochure; National Park Service; Government Printing Office, 1994
External links
- Ice Age National Scenic Trail official website
- Ice Age Park & Trail Foundation website
- WI-DNR Dynamic Mapping
- 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)
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