Ice Age National Scenic Trail Travel Planner
Imagine a public greenway meandering across Wisconsin's glacial landscape. Imagine a trail 1,200 miles long leading both to places of glacial beauty close to home and to some of the remotest parts of Wisconsin. That is what the late Ray Zilmer of Milwaukee had in mind in the 1950's when he proposed that an Ice Age Glacier National Forest Park be established along the entire length of the moraines marking the furthest advance of the last glacier in Wisconsin. An avid hiker, he proposed a continuous footpath, similar to the Appalachian Trail, as the central feature of the park so that visitors could explore and enjoy the glacial landscape at their own pace.

The route of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail generally follows the end moraines of the most recent glaciation, although it diverges from them in several areas to include other features of the glacial landscape and a glimpse of the Driftless Area.

From its eastern end at Potawatomi State Park on Green Bay, the trail route follows in places the present and former shorelines of Lake Michigan, the crest of eskers, and the edges of bogs in Manitowoc County. The trail continues over the rolling upland of Kettle Moraine on public and private lands for more than 100 miles through Sheboygan, Washington, and Waukesha Counties. From marshes to hilltop remnants of prairie oak openings and along waterways through oak, hickory, and maple forests, the trail threads its way among the many towns and villages of the densely populated southeast portion of the State.