Ice Age Trail Alliance

The Ice Age Trail is a continuous footpath through diverse landscapes that:

• Provides superlative outdoor recreation experiences;
• Preserves and commemorates world-renowned glacial features formed during the Wisconsin Glaciation;
• Provides a natural corridor that protects habitat and enables the movement of wildlife;
• Serves as a lifelong educational resource;
• Provides quiet places for people to form and nurture a spiritual connection with the landscape;
• Promotes the health and vigor of users of all ages and abilities; and
• Links the history and diverse human cultures of the land we call Wisconsin.

 

The trail extends approximately 1,200 miles across the state of Wisconsin between Interstate State Park on the St. Croix River in Polk County and Potawatomi State Park in Door County. It generally follows the terminal moraine, which is a ridge made up of unsorted gravel, sand and boulders carried by the glacier and deposited at its outer edge. The trail meanders away from the terminal moraine to connect other geological, scenic, and cultural resources into the Ice Age Trail.

The Ice Age Trail Alliance believes that if future generations are to adopt a land ethic and protect our national parks, they will need places that regularly challenge their minds to understand the natural world and engage their bodies to action. Within 100 miles of 18 million Americans, the Ice Age Trail is such a place.