| Ice Age National Scenic Trail |
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The Ice Age Trail is a designated National Scenic Trail in the United States that will run some 1000 Mile s through the state of Wisconsin . As Of 2003 , some 600 miles of trail is completed. The trail wanders through the state following the southernmost location of the Last Continental Glaciation . Two books are published by the Ice Age Park and Trail Foundation to help you learn about or hike the Ice Age Trail: an 'Atlas' of maps and a 'Companion Guide' hiking book. BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ICE AGE TRAIL During the 1920s, increasing numbers of Milwaukee residents began to explore the Kettle Moraine of southeastern Wisconsin. To satisfy the growing demand for places to recreate, the Milwaukee Chapter of the Izaak Walton League (MCIWL) purchased an 850-acre property in 1926 near Campbellsport. Volunteers quickly began work to open footpaths on the property. Proposals for public acquisition of additional lands ensued. In 1937, the State of Wisconsin established the Kettle Moraine State Forest. During the 1950s, MCIWL leader Ray Zillmer envisioned the Kettle Moraine State Forest forming the nucleus for a longer linear park that would be used "by millions more people than use the more remote national parks". He pictured a trail leading through the Kettle Moraine and continuing westward for several hundred miles along the terminal moraine left by the most recent continental glaciation. In 1958, Zillmer founded the Ice Age Park and Trail Foundation, Inc. to begin efforts to establish a national park in Wisconsin that would encompass this route. Bills were introduced in Congress to create an Ice Age National Park but just as the effort to create this new type of park was gaining momentum, Zillmer died in 1960. The Ice Age Trail movement suffered. In the early 1970s, following the goal of the late Ray Zillmer, volunteers began to expand the old Glacial Hiking Trail in the Northern Kettle Moraine State Forest into Wisconsin’s thousand-mile Ice Age Trail. Some of the new Trail segments were opened on private land after volunteers received handshake agreements with the landowners, while others were built on public lands such as state parks and the Chequamegon National Forest. Volunteer efforts finally paid-off in 1980 when Congress and the President established the Ice Age Trail as a “National Scenic Trail” – one of only eight such trails in the Nation. The Ice Age Park and Trail Foundation purchased its first properties for the Trail in 1986 and the following year the Trail received the second designation of “State Scenic Trail” by the Wisconsin Legislature and Governor. Land acquisition to permanently protect the Trail has been increasing ever since. Volunteer support for the Ice Age Trail continues to grow - in 2004 volunteers devoted over 87,000 hours to the construction and maintenance of the Trail. Membership in the Ice Age Park and Trail Foundation is steadily increasing as well - over 5,300 members by mid-2005 whose financial contributions fund the staff who support the work of the dedicated volunteers. EXTERNAL LINK |