Completed the Ice Age National Scenic Trail yesterday! It is my fourth NST. Photos are from my last few days on trail; I finished the segments out of order; final miles were on the Straight Lake segment with Summer Lin .
This was supposed to be a 2024 thruhike, but I got injured just past the halfway point that year. Came back in 2025 while still rehabbing and continued the trail as a series of day hikes, shuttling myself with a Walmart bike and hiking with/getting shuttles from local hikers and volunteers. Left the trail for a family event, after which I thruhiked the Appalachian Trail. Came back to Wisconsin last month to finally finish the IAT as a series of day hikes.
Very glad that 2024 thruhike attempt did not work out since, if it did, I never would have met some truly wonderful people last year and this year. Special thanks to Summer, Jill, Linda, and John for their good company and assistance, and also to the many shuttle drivers and volunteers who assist IAT hikers.
The Ice Age Trail is one of Wisconsin’s pride-and-joys. It is set up as a series of named segments with connecting road walks. The rules of the game are to hike all the segments and to connect them on foot, but how you connect them (which roads you walk) are up to you. There are recommended connecting routes (“CRs”), but you can go another way if you so choose. Most of the CRs are on quiet and scenic country roads.
The segments themselves are fairly easy compared to the likes of, say, the AT. Most of them are flat or contain gentle/small hills. Scenery varies from beautiful woods with numerous pretty bodies of water to small town sidewalks to beautiful meadows to farmer fields dotted with cows and horses. I enjoyed each one of the segments and most of the road walking, though during my first year there were unseasonably high temperatures, and those road walks combined with direct sunlight/heat got to me.
September and October are the best months to hike the IAT since most of the bugs are gone and the foliage is lovely. I hear the mosquitoes and ticks are a nightmare from late May through August. It can drop below freezing at night during October, especially in the northern sections, so plan accordingly. Wear blaze orange, because hunters are everywhere.
October is an especially fun month because the local towns and businesses along the trail offer discounts to hikers pursuing the “Mammoth Hike Challenge.” The challenge rewards hikers who do a certain amount of miles and who visit a certain amount of specific towns during the month of October. It’s a great way to encourage locals to get outside and on the trail, and you can expect to see a lot of friendly day-hikers during those 31 days.
Wisconsin is full of good people and lovely scenery, and I am grateful for my experiences both on and off the trail.
Notes for other long-distance hikers wanting to tackle the IAT. The terrain will feel mostly easy, but the logistics can be quite difficult. You cannot just camp anywhere except for certain stretches within the far northern sections. Reservations are required for campgrounds in the southern and eastern parts, and in other places (most of the trail) you will need to rely upon “DCA” sites. Those are usually very small sites, big enough for one or two tents, that are free and on a first-come-first-served basis. They are often very close to the trail and can be exposed to the general public. Locals will sometimes use them even if they aren’t backpacking. You will likely need to plan ahead and spend money on hotels/motels/AirBnBs for the parts of the trail where DCAs are not available. Please do not stealth camp on private property or leave cute/coded notes in FarOut about places to stealth. Private landowners also have access to FarOut, and they are not amused by thruhikers taking “extended rests” on their property. IAT hikers can easily lose access to that private land. It is possible that you will spend as much money (or more) hiking this trail as you did on the AT/PCT/CDT due to the relative lack of free and available camping in certain areas. There are no hostels. Plan accordingly.
Resupply is easy east/south of Antigo, but those far northern parts require advanced planning.
There are volunteers in each county that can help in terms of shuttling and resupply. Get their names and info from the Ice Age Trail Alliance and contact them weeks in advance – not the same day or even the day before. They are used to Wisconsin folks who are working on this trail in segments and who therefore plan ahead. They are not used to thru-hikers/LASHers who call/text at the last minute. That being said, if there is a true emergency (like a medical one) and you need immediate help, it is possible someone could come get you the same day. Wisconsin people are extremely kind and friendly. They do, however, have busy lives. I don’t think there is much of a hitchhiking culture either.
I’ll be back in this state next spring to do all my WI LifeQuest goals and to hike WI’s portion of the North Country Trail. All the miles. I’ve reverted to my original plan of doing all the miles of all the NSTs. (I’ll go back for the rest of the NY NCT miles in late summer/fall 2028 when hopefully all the damn deer flies are gone – and I am going to unabashedly Platinum Blaze those miles as much as I can…anyone who wants to join me for any part of it and do mutual shuttles, let me know.)
