![]() ![]() In 1980, with some 250 miles of trail already laid, Congress proclaimed the IAT a national scenic trail, along with the North Country Trail (NCT). By the time the National Trails System Act was passed in 1968, Zillmer’s idea was morphing into that of a long-distance trail, not a national park. But the National Park Service torpedoed his idea, deeming a long, linear park too difficult to administer.Īfter Zillmer passed away in 1960, others took up the cause. His original idea was to create a national park that followed the glacier’s terminal moraine, as Wisconsin is considered to have some of the world’s finest, best-preserved glacial remains. The IAT was the brainchild of Ray Zillmer, a Milwaukee lawyer and avid mountaineer. It is the only national scenic trail to showcase geologic features, rather than move hikers from point A to point B. Coiled entirely within Wisconsin, it tumbles around the State from east to west and north to south, its path tracing the terminal moraine of the last glacier, which receded from the earth 10,000 to 14,000 years ago. ![]() When I set foot on the trail that steamy August morning in 2013, only a few people had hiked the entire length of the Ice Age Trail (IAT). I was also aiming to set the first women’s fastpacking record in the process. After nine months of planning, I was poised to embark on a thru-hike of Wisconsin’s Ice Age Trail, one of America’s 11 national scenic trails. With about 1,100 miles ahead of me, I had to remain positive. I refused to ponder the day’s weather forecast-highs in the low 90s-before I’d even set foot on the trail. ![]() ![]() the air was already so thick and heavy it felt like I was breathing through a wet washcloth. By Melanie Radzicki McManus, Author of “Thousand-Miler: Adventures Hiking the Ice Age Trail” (2017, Wisconsin Historical Society Press)Īt 6 a.m. ![]()
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