Hiking the Tisch Mills Segment of the Ice Age Trail

 

A small brown sign on a hill overlooking County Highway B marks the southern terminus of the Tisch Mills Segment of the Ice Age National Scenic trail. On a windy April morning, I headed up the grassy hill from County Highway B onto the trail. I nearly missed the small trail sign, as it is on a hill up off the road and follows private property along the edge of a farm field. When you do this segment, keep your eyes open!

Hiking the Mishicot Segment and the East Twin River Segment of the Ice Age Trail

On a windy February morning, I hiked the Mishicot and East Twin River Segments of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail (IAT) and the connecting route that links the segments. With piercing wind gust up to 39 miles per hour, I put on a balaclava and pulled a large rain jacket over my fleece as a wind shell. After cinching up the hood of the rain jacket around my balaclava, I began the hike.

2021 Canoe Trip to the Bittersweet Lakes State Natural Area

The Bittersweet Lakes is located within the Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest, in Vilas County, Wisconsin. On a hot, July morning we loaded our gear and the canoe onto our car and headed off into the morning. We arrived to a sandy parking area, buggy and hot from the morning sun. 

Hiking the Connection Route between the Point Beach Segment and the Mishicot Segment of the Ice Age Trail

On a cold January morning I arrived in Mishicot planning to park at the Mishicot Village Park and begin hiking only to find the lot unplowed. Having difficulty seeing where the parking lot ended and the park greens started, I drove around Mishicot looking for a place to park off the snowy streets. Since it happened to be the weekend, I decided to park in a freshly plowed visitor's spot in front of the Mishicot Elementary School.

Hiking the Point Beach Segment of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail

Like many of the other segments of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail (IAT), I hiked the Point Beach Segment of the IAT twice, once out and once back. I hiked the first 2.1 miles of the Point Beach Segment in early December when I finished the Two Rivers Segment with no snow and ice. I returned to finish the other 8 miles of the segment in early January, this time with hard packed ice and snow on the trail.

Hiking the Two Rivers Segment of the Ice Age Trail

On a crisp, sunny December morning, I hiked the Two Rivers Segment of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail (IAT) in Manitowoc County. This segment provides an easy 3 mile stroll through town with plenty to see and do along the way. The Two Rivers segment of the IAT passes through residential areas, the historic downtown, and along the waterfront passing historic sites, shops, restaurants, bars and views of scenic waterways.

Together in the BWCA

With the Northern Minnesota drought, along with Canadian and Northern Minnesota wildfires and the uptick in Covid19 cases filling the news, BWCA enthusiasts' discussions in online forums had become concerning. Heading up to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) for our family's 2021 canoe trip we talked about all we'd  read. Would we come home to find our daughter's school closed again due to the pandemic? Would the water on our route be too low? Rather than paddling small rivers would we be slogging through mud and climbing over rocks with extra carryovers? Would wildfires cut our trip short?