Head east or west on the path marked with Yellow Rectangles (or if you're at the Evergreen Parking Lot follow the path in front of you, or head back across the parking lot and across Highway C) and you will find yourself on the Ice Age Trail. This national trail is over 1000 miles long, contained entirely in Wisconsin. Hike this amazing terrain which glaciers left behind.
Here is a list of interesting facts from https://www.iceagetrail.org/ice-age-trail/
Ice Age Trail Facts:
- The Trail is managed by a partnership among the National Park Service, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Ice Age Trail Alliance.
- The Ice Age Trail is open for hiking, backpacking and snowshoeing. Many segments support cross-country skiing, too.
- The Trail is not yet complete. More than 600 miles are yellow-blazed Ice Age Trail segments, and more than 500 miles of unmarked connecting routes link the blazed segments. The entire route is about 1,200 miles long.
- The Trail’s western terminus is in Interstate State Park in St. Croix Falls, Polk County. It overlooks the St. Croix River and our neighbors in Minnesota.
- The Trail’s eastern terminus is in Potawatomi State Park in Sturgeon Bay, Door County.
- The Ice Age Trail is built and maintained largely by volunteers. Please join us in caring for this remarkable treasure.
- Most of the blazed Ice Age Trail Segments fit hikers’ ideas of a traditional, off-road hiking experience. Some segments, however, lead hikers right down the main streets of Wisconsin communities. This is by design – the Ice Age Trail is meant to connect people and communities.
- Thirteen municipalities (with more joining each year) have chosen recognition as an Ice Age Trail Community, underscoring the Trail’s positive economic impact, locally. Together, the Ice Age Trail Alliance and Trail Communities promote the unique qualities that make the Trail, and the community it travels through, a meaningful destination.
- The Trail occasionally coincides with state bike trails – biking is allowed on these sections only. Horseback riding is not permitted. Motorized vehicles are not permitted (with the exception of just a few segments that share state multi-use trails).
- The Ice Age Trail began in the 1950s as the dream of Milwaukeean Ray Zillmer, who had a vision of a long, linear park winding through Wisconsin along the glacier’s terminal moraine.
- The Trail crosses over many ownership types, including private land, city parks, state parks, county forests and national forest.
- The Trail travels through 30 counties.
- One of the goals of the Ice Age Trail Alliance is to permanently protect the route of the Ice Age Trail. Every year, we purchase land with privately donated funds and grants from government partners to get closer to achieving this goal. The State of Wisconsin also acquires land for the Trail through its Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program.
