IAT Map Miles 866.7
Miles Hiked 9.3
Elevation 876 feet
Elevation Gain 1,231 feet
Miles Hiked Today 9.3
The Ice Age Trail (IAT) is located in Wisconsin and runs about 1,200 miles. I’ve been interested in the trail for some time. It had been my plan to hike it this past summer, but when I learned that it is incomplete and requires a lot of road walking (500 miles) to connect sections, I went to Washington and hiked the PCT instead. Still, my interest is there, so while visiting my sister in Wisconsin, I decided to hike a few days on the IAT
Angela, my sister, dropped me off at the Clover Valley Road trailhead at 12:30 PM. After saying goodbye, I headed east on the trail. My expectations were an easy, mostly level hike, Wrong! Although there are no five mile long, 3,000 foot elevation gains, the trail goes up and down like a roller coaster. The ascents and descents were way steeper than the Western trails I’ve hike the last several years. Fortunately, the elevation gains were not long – just steep.
It was good to be hiking in a forest again. There are vastly fewer blow downs to climb over and the forest is dense. I was concerned about finding a camp site at the end of the day, and my concern proved valid as I hiked along and scanned the forest out of curiosity for potential campsites. The terrain was uneven with hills and the ground cover would prevent pitching a tent in most areas.
As the day progressed, I decided to check out a shelter at nine miles, which I would reach around 4:30. When I got to the shelter, there was no one there. You have to have a reservation to stay at the shelters, and I did not have one. I sat around to see if anyone would show up. At 5 PM, two campers came in and set up tents. No more room for a tent, so I watched to see if anyone came into the shelter.
After 15 minutes, I decided not to take a chance on the shelter. I put my backpack on and left. Now I had to find a stealth campsite. I headed east on the trail and almost immediately, came upon a potential campsite. It wasn’t optimal, but it would work. I cleared away a lot of sticks and pine cones and setup my tent. Although the spot I picked was a little sloped, I was okay sleeping that night. I got lucky with the campsite. I hope my luck holds out tomorrow.
