Ice Age Trail – Wisconsin (IAT) – Aug 5 to 9, 2018

The IAT is an over 2,000 mile trail that generally follows the end moraines of the most recent ice age glaciations.  It was designated a National Scenic Trail in 1980.  I choose to hike in the Kettle Moraine South.  This section of trail travels over rolling terrain with outstanding examples of kettle ponds, eskers, and kames, and moraines.  The most recent glacier being only 10,000 years ago.

• Moraines – a ridge formed by unsorted gravel, sand, and boulders carried by the glacier and can be as high as 300’
• Kettle – A surface depression formed by large, detached blocks of melting ice that were buried with sand and gravel.  The ice melted and the surface collapsed leaving a crater-like depression.
• Kettle Moraine – Also called the Interlobate Moraine.  The Kettle Moraine is a series of ridges, 120 miles long and only a few miles wide in eastern WI.
• Esker—A long narrow ridge of sand or gravel deposited by a stream flowing on or beneath a glacier.
• Kame—A short ridge or mound of drift deposited by glacial melt water.
• Erratics – Boulders carried long distances by the glaciers and deposited when the glacier melted.

8/5 – Met up with Bob and Lorrie Preston at White Water Lake after a nice visit with friends Jill and George Seaworth in Huntley, IL.  We left a car at Clover Rd and drove to Rt 12 to hike the 4.6 miles back.  Storm clouds were gathering and we wanted to have the option of bailing out if rain and lightning came. It was very hot and humid but a nice well maintained and blazed trail.  After lunch and no storms we shuttled a vehicle to Young Rd and hiked the 7.0 mile Black Hawk Segment back to Rt 12.  There were lots of wild flowers and butterflies.  It is always fun to hike with Lorrie.  She is a master gardener and shares her knowledge of plants and wildlife.  I set up camp at Hebron Campground.  The Prestons at the Holiday Inn, in Ft Atkinsons,.  Total for the day 11.6 miles.

8/6 – Several thunderstorms all night with really wild lightning like 1,000 flash bulbs going off in my camper van.  It was still pouring at 7:30 so we decided to meet up in Palmyra for breakfast and see if the storm system moved on while we ate.  By the time we were finished eating the rain had eased and we decided to hike.  Hiking is what we do and what we were here for.  Set up a vehicle to do the 7.1, Blue Spring Lake Segment.  This section has a panoramic view from the top of Bald Bluff and the Stone Elephant, is a massive granite erratic.  Prairie Potawatomi Native American visited the site and probably considered it a sacred area.  The early settlers named the rock Stone Elephant because of its color, size, and general elephant-like shape.  7.1 miles of up and down over moraines and down into kettles and up again.  The trail is well blazed and maintained.

We had lunch and relocated a car to hike the 3.1 mile Stony Ridge Segment which winds through a pine plantation, oak forest, and dry prairie.  The prairie was beautiful with wild flowers and butterflies.  We saw a Monarch lay two tiny, tiny eggs on a Whorled Milkweed.  The eggs are about the size of the period at the end of this sentence.  We had dinner at Cozumel Mexican restaurant.

8/7 - Another overcast day with rain in the forecast.   We set up to hike the Eagle Segment which passes through extensive prairie wetlands and is the largest native wet prairie east of the Mississippi.  The prairie is growing in the bed of the former Glacial Lake Scuppernong.  We passed Brady’s Rocks, a rock outcropping which has a unique fern population including walking fern, fragile fern, and cliff brake fern growing out of cracks in the dolomite bedrock.   We will have to take their word for it because the mosquitoes where so bad we could not spend much time trying to identify the ferns.  Have I mentioned the mosquitoes?   Guess I have to.  They are here, there, and everywhere. 

After lunch at a picnic table parking area we hiked the Scuppernong Segment over hilly terrain, through hardwood forest, up and down the moraines, and into the kettles, and up the moraine, and into the kettle, etc, etc, etc.  At the lunch break there were some Alaskan horses.  The owners said they are a good riding horse.  They give a very smooth ride, like riding on a cloud.  Well, when we got there the horses were having a bit of a disagreement biting and kicking each other.  Maybe a good ride but not very nice to each other. Another good hike on a nice trail.  33 miles done. 

We stopped at the Forest Service info center and museum which has very nice displays about the ice age and local history.

Dinner at Forks restaurant in Mukwonago.  Love the names.

8/8 – We decided to do something different today and set up to hike the Albany Segment from Monticello to Albany.  This is a straight and flat section following the Little Sugar and Sugar rivers.  It promised rustic wooden bridges, frequent wildlife sightings, and pastoral views.  Well the only wild life we saw were about a million little American Toads hopping from one side of the trail to the other.  We had to watch our footing so we did not step on them and squash them.  I am sorry to say I did step on one; this after Bob stepped on a small snake.  Seems we were leaving death and destruction in our wake.  This was a very boring hike and certainly not nearly as enjoyable as the moraines, kettles, and prairies.   9.4 miles seemed like 20.  Oh, about the mosquitoes, we can now also talk about the deer flies.  We had stopped counting our bites days ago.

8/9 – Hiked the Lapham Peak Segment for the final miles needed for my 50 miles of Ice Age Trail.  This hilly segment winds through woods and prairie restoration areas and includes a great view from Lapham Peak observation tower.  After passing through some wooded areas and climbing to Lapham Peak the trail opens up into another prairie restoration area.  The sun was hot in the open but the breeze kept the mosquitoes at bay.   Once again all three of us enjoyed the open prairie.  The long open view over the wildflower and prairie grasses was beautiful. 

When we visited the State Forest Information Center, a ranger, which we told what I was doing, ask me what my favorite trail was.  I told him the trail I’m on, but I must say the Ice Age Sections we hiked will be marked as some of my favorites.  The trail was well blazed, trail parking good, and the trail well maintained.

I do have one lasting thought about WI.  I am 4’ 11” tall, not very tall and I found the toilets in the public restrooms really, really, low.  Like kindergarten low.  What’s with that?