View Full Version : Ice Age Trail
All these threads and nothing on the Ice Age Trail? Well, allow me to start one. The Ice Age Trail is located in Wisconsin and is roughly 1000 miles long. As far as I know right now, there have only been 11 people to thru hike this Midwestern jewel. And, uh, I was one of them.
So, if you live in the area, now you can rest easy knowing that Wisconsin holds it's very own long distance trail! Cheese, beer, and thru hiking! My friends, it just doesn't get much better than that.
Spirit Walker
09-19-2004, 22:48
Funny you should post this today. There was an article today in the Washington Post on the IAT.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29461-2004Sep17.html
Small world.
All these threads and nothing on the Ice Age Trail? Well, allow me to start one. The Ice Age Trail is located in Wisconsin and is roughly 1000 miles long. As far as I know right now, there have only been 11 people to thru hike this Midwestern jewel. And, uh, I was one of them.
So, if you live in the area, now you can rest easy knowing that Wisconsin holds it's very own long distance trail! Cheese, beer, and thru hiking! My friends, it just doesn't get much better than that.
So do tell, what was the trail like? Was it well marked? How much of it is still road walking? I'm very interested in this trail and would like to hear more about it from someone who has hiked the whole thing. Got a trail journal to share? thanks for any info.
So do tell, what was the trail like? Was it well marked? How much of it is still road walking? I'm very interested in this trail and would like to hear more about it from someone who has hiked the whole thing. Got a trail journal to share? thanks for any info.Check out:
http://www.iceagetrail.org/
They have a new guide, very good. The trail is still aobut a quarter to a third road walking, though most road walks are evidently back roads.
Maps are downloadable for free, but they are making up a new map set that I am waiting for. I'm thinking about doing it in 2006. Glacial features interest me greatly. Something about walking on an esker, knowing that at one time all the sand was a mile or so over my head.
The trail was described to me at an IAT party last winter as the "Wisconsin Pub Crawl."
mountaineer
09-21-2004, 15:52
I am intrigued by the Ice Age Trail, as I have lived in Chicago my whole life and never heard of it. If you could post some more info about your thru-hiking experience, that would be great. When did you start/finish? What kind of accomodations were there along the way (i.e. were there many camp sites available? any kind of shelter system? resupply availability? landscape? trail condition?). I hope it is not really a big pub crawl... that would be disappointing... but pls also include the kinds of people that were out there and the atmosphere.
tlbj6142
09-21-2004, 16:03
Chris, didn't Sharon do this trail? Heck, what trails hasn't she done?
I What kind of accomodations were there along the way (i.e. were there many camp sites available? any kind of shelter system? resupply availability? landscape? trail condition?). All of the above. I haven't hiked it, but have prepared extensively for 2006. Here is the Ice Age Trail equivalent of the AT Companion:
http://www.iceagetrail.org/market/books.html
I hope it is not really a big pub crawl... that would be disappointing... but pls also include the kinds of people that were out there and the atmosphere.I've heard thge AT described as a 2000-mile-long party. Perhaps after partying the AT, they move on to Wisconsin and do the IAT.
Chris, didn't Sharon do this trail? Heck, what trails hasn't she done?
Yeah, this is one of the many trails she has hiked. I think the notion of a party trail on the IAT is, perhaps, a little misleading. There are no other thruhikers, so if you want to party, it is with the people that live in the area. Hence, you crawl by yourself. In this regard, it is probably like the GDT (no thruhiker culture).
tlbj6142
09-22-2004, 17:15
Switching topics a bit, how was the GDT. Is there a webiste for that trail? Did you complete all of it or just a large section?
Got your journal up yet?
Nothing up yet, as the start of the school year has brought a rush of work to be done all at once. The GDT has no trail association, much less a fixed route or northern terminus (the southern end is generally the US border at Waterton). I hiked from the US border to Mount Robson, which was the ending point of one of the early visions for the GDT. The again, so was Jasper. I generally followed Dustin Lynx's "Hiking Canada's GDT" book, but deviated from it for a variety of reasons. He has an end point north of Robson at a place called Kakwa Lakes. Problem is, from Kakwa it is 50 miles on a 4x4 track to get to a road, where you can hitch. Problem 2 is that from the last resupply point, you'd have to haul about 300 miles through rough terrain. Maybe more, maybe less if you're tougher.
tlbj6142
09-23-2004, 10:05
I assume it is a fairly isolated "trail" (assuming there even is a trail) and that you'd see very few people (especially once you were a couple hundred miles from the US border), correct?
I only saw one other hiker on my Ice Age thru hike, and he was just out for the day. My human contact came from the many taverns along the way. I would go in for water and beer, and conversation with the locals.