Lost Hike

By Drew Hanson

The Badger State has little-understood but impressive hiking foundations. Few states can claim a share of the legacies of John Muir, Gaylord Nelson and other giants, as Wisconsin can. Plus, we have important groups with noble histories like the Wisconsin Go Hiking Club, founded in 1924, Izaak Walton League, which took critical steps in the 1930s-1950s to support hiking, and the Ice Age Trail Alliance, founded in 1958.

As much as there is here to celebrate, there are also mistakes from which to learn. In this installment of Pedestrian View, let’s look at a classic Wisconsin hike that was lost to short-sightedness.

On October 15, 1922 a group of Milwaukeeans took a hike in neighboring Waukesha County. Their story was captured for posterity a few days later in the weekly newsletter of the Milwaukee City Club. Records saved by the Wisconsin Historical Society and other online resources show it being a typical outing of its day.

The group called themselves, “the Outdoor Lifers,” and included Jerry Sweet, Henry Hase and William Foster—an enthusiastic bunch, no doubt.

Creation of the Kettle Moraine State Forest was still 15 years in the future so the Outdoor Lifers hiked across private land in an era before ubiquitous “No Trespassing” signs. It’s what everyone did who hiked in those days. It was a normal 1920’s outing.

The story of their day begins, “Sunday was a day to set the blood a-racing—blue sky, stretches of sear fields, and woods bursting with autumn color—and when the Outdoor Lifers stepped off the train at Nagawicka, Hase bounded to the top of the ski jump to vent his spirits. The hikers struck across to Government Hill and South Wales. Foster was growing prodigiously hungry and became fearful whether he had instructed Sweet to bring enough food. (The rest of the Outdoor Lifers were groaning under the weight of their provision packs.) Powerful thing, imagination! Bryn Mawr, Welsh for ‘Big Hill,’ was reached at noon.”

After a lengthy scenic hilltop lunch, the crew continued their saunter. They “reached North Prairie by dark and stopped at a billiard hall a half block from the station to wait for the train. No sooner had Jerry Sweet remarked that he never knew a Milwaukee Road train to be on time than it came tearing in. There was a mad scramble for the station.”

It sounds exhilarating, like the kind of thing many of us would enjoy today—actually, do enjoy when visiting other places in the U.S. and Europe. These days, we must struggle to find all-day hikes in southern Wisconsin. Indeed, a few weeks ago a friend emailed me about his daughter and her friends’ interest in a 3-day hike within an easy drive of Madison as a transition from summer break to college. I informed the friend that the only meaningful 3-day hikes, or even all-day one-way hikes, in southern Wisconsin are in the Kettle Moraine State Forest. Compounding the problem is that backpacking in the Kettle Moraine is so popular that it requires reservations at rustic shelters that are booked months in advance. The Black River State Forest might technically fit the bill but its preponderance of motor vehicles is enough to keep away those who enjoy hearing predominantly sounds of nature.

It was not supposed to be this way. The State of Wisconsin had a plan, including a project boundary approved by the legislature, to acquire the lands needed to protect this classic hike and others. Approved in 1937 the plan was rescinded in 1965. The about-face was one big step backward not just for hiking but also for land and water conservation. What followed was the slow conversion of most of the lands we today call the Mid Kettle Moraine from large family farms to cookie-cutter subdivisions. The result: Waukesha is running out of clean water and a classic hike between Nagawicka and North Prairie is gone.

Instead of sticking with its 1937 plan to conserve the Kettle Moraine, the State of Wisconsin has acquired over a million acres of public access lands elsewhere. How many public places in southern Wisconsin today allow a person to take an all-day hike without walking in circles? You can count the number on your fingers.

(Tangentially, considering the public transit used for the classic 1922 hike, how many all-day hikes in southern Wisconsin are today served by public transit? Zero. A 1916 railroad map of southeast Wisconsin showing the extensive public transit options available to anyone planning a hike in 1922 is available from the Wisconsin Historical Society here.)

In spite of Wisconsin’s impressive hiking foundations, both major and insidious mistakes were made in the decades since 1960 that have severely limited hiking opportunities in southern Wisconsin. Sad. Short-sighted. But don’t lose hope. The future still holds opportunities.

Under Governor Tommy Thompson, in 1990 for the first time State funds were earmarked for the purchase of Ice Age Trail lands and in 1999 the longest segment of Ice Age Trail in history was protected in a single acquisition. Under Governor James Doyle, between 2003-2010, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources made Ice Age Trail land acquisition a priority and solid progress was made. With political will, momentum could be regained.

In 2009, Congress gave the National Park Service the authority to acquire land for the Ice Age Trail from willing sellers. But to date, NPS has not used this ability to purchase even a single parcel. With political will, this too could change.

Where the land can be acquired for the public, the Ice Age Trail Alliance’s Mobile Skills Crew has shown it can build the highest quality hiking trail.

The 2018 Wisconsin Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP) shows hiking/walking/running on trails to be the most popular outdoor recreation activity in Wisconsin, with 68% of state residents participating at least once in the last 12 months. Will that significant majority lose or gain hikes in the future?

IAT Gems

By Drew Hanson

A common question asked of me is, “What is your favorite part of the Ice Age Trail?” Wanting to remain as unbiased as possible, my response is often, “The next segment opened to the public.” It’s hard to beat a hike on any trail segments built by the Ice Age Trail Alliance's Mobile Skills Crew. With a half-dozen MSC projects each year, there are regularly new segments to enjoy.

But what about landscapes? What are some of the most special (and vulnerable) landscapes along the thousand-mile IAT? This is essentially the question the Ice Age Trail Alliance (then called the Ice Age Park and Trail Foundation) attempted to answer in the early-mid 1990s. What they came up with were a list of what they called gems. Although there are biases and omissions in the list, it does provide a partial index of exceptional natural resources of statewide and national significance along the IAT.

Here are the gems identified by IATA in 1994, listed from west to east:

* Dalles of the St. Croix
* Straight Lake
* Chippewa Moraine
* Old Baldy
* Wood Lake
* Grandfather Falls
* Harrison Hills
* Highland Lakes
* Eau Claire Dells
* New Hope Meltwater Channel
* Waupaca-Farmington Drumlins
* Lower Narrows
* Gibraltar Rock
* Lodi Marsh
* Table Bluff
* Cross Plains
* Verona Moraine
* Oconomowoc River
* Polk Kames

Obvious places like Devils Lake, Northern Kettle Moraine and Southern Kettle Moraine were left off presumably because they already had large blocks of public land, making them unthreatened by land use changes. Other places I would add to the list include the Keweenawan Hills, John Muir’s boyhood stomping grounds, Walla Hi and others.

It is a useful list to help answer the question of favorite places. More urgently, many of these resources remain vulnerable and it is hoped their mention here will refocus attention on their importance.

What are some of your favorites?

A Green New Deal

By Drew Hanson

We in the United States obsess too much over cutting taxes. The problem is not how much we spend, it is how we spend it.

It is not wasteful for our neighbor to have a living wage job, or to make our communities vibrant, or to ensure we have safe drinking water, or to keep our bridges from crumbling, or to head-off increased flooding.

At the height of the Great Depression, when most of the country was penny pinching out of dire necessity, the United States launched several New Deal programs that were the opposite of cost cutting. Opponents at the time said we could not afford them. But the Civilian Conservation Corp (better known as the CCC), the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and other progressive programs put millions of people to work investing in the future. They built public structures out of stone to last, painted amazing murals in buildings like post offices, created some of our favorite public parks, and much more.

A crowd-sourced, interactive map and database of New Deal projects is at https://livingnewdeal.org/ Check it out! Many of these projects created facilities that are among the most enduring and popular public works of the 20^th century. Many of them continue to be gifts from our grandparents that keep on giving.

Dells of the Eau Claire, one of six CCC project areas on the Ice Age Trail

Unfortunately, these far-sighted programs ended in World War II. A reshuffling of our nation’s priorities ensued. The selective obsessive cost cutting that followed turned into what our grandparents might these days call penny wise and pound foolish.

Today, while some of our roads, bridges, national parks and national scenic trails desperately need help, we lavish public dollars on sports stadiums and huge corporations like Foxconn and Amazon. What would our grandparents say? I think mine would say we’re being damn foolish.

America needs a New Deal for the 21^st century that creates the public infrastructure for the next 100 years. We need programs to address the backlog of projects on our national scenic trails such as having seasonal trail crews on the Ice Age Trail. Instead of more dams, long-distance transmission lines, and fossil fuel pipelines, we need investments in local renewable energy that do not alter the planet’s fisheries or climate. We need to reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund. We need more sidewalks and bike lanes. We need to prevent invasive exotic species from over-running our lands, waters, and us. We need a Green New Deal.

Don't Spoil the Views

by Drew Hanson

An unneeded powerline that would mar a vast scenic area is planned for southwest Wisconsin. Known as the Cardinal-Hickory Creek high-voltage transmission line, it would connect Middleton with Iowa by way of a 100+ mile string of 150-foot tall towers.

Driftless Area

According to National Park Service geologist, Robert Rose, “The driftless area of Wisconsin is world famous because it is an unglaciated area of considerable size … lying far within extensively glaciated territory.” The Cardinal-Hickory Creek powerline would slice through the Driftless Area, from one end to the other.

One of the organizations opposing construction of the powerline is Driftless Defenders. According to their website, the powerline would cost ratepayers in excess of $500 million.

Blue Mounds

Native Americans called them Mu-cha-wa-ku-nin or Smokey Mountains. Today we call them Blue Mounds. Wisconsin’s first scientist, Increase Lapham, wrote that Blue Mounds, “were very important landmarks to guide the traveler in his course through the boundless prairies.” This includes 10,000 years of pedestrian use on the Ancient Trail that existed between the mouth of the Wisconsin River and mouth of the Milwaukee River.

Blue Mounds remain an inspirational landmark to users of the Ice Age Trail. Like a distant guidepost, Blue Mounds are visible from at least a dozen places on the Ice Age Trail in Dane, Columbia and Sauk counties. Click on the map at right. Some of the view points include the ridge above the Village of Cross Plains, 11 miles from Blue Mounds, and from 29 miles away on the Ice Age Trail at Sauk Point in Devils Lake State Park. Farther south, Blue Mounds is visible from part of the Montrose Segment of the Ice Age Trail as well. One could argue that these multiple view points make Blue Mounds the most important scenic feature of the entire thousand-mile Ice Age Trail.

Why deface views of such an historic and scenic feature?

Black Earth Valley

The proposed powerline would also degrade views of Black Earth Valley which is home to Black Earth Creek. The creek is a class 1 trout stream that is recognized as a premier trout destination and regionally significant resource. It has benefited from intensive habitat improvements. According to the DNR’s website, “The history here is deep, multi-layered and dynamic.”

Along the south rim of Black Earth Valley, at a future unit of the National Park System, are prairie and oak savanna remnants. Along the opposite valley rim are also prairie and oak savanna remnants on privately-owned land. Volunteers have worked for decades to restore these rare native plant communities. Standing among large old oak trees, the views from valley rim to valley rim are outstanding. The view would be junked by the huge Cardinal-Hickory Creek powerline.

Not Needed

The future of energy is in conservation and local renewables.

According to a recent report by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, slow growth in electricity use is anticipated, with peak demand expected to increase just 0.5 percent a year through 2024. Such a small increase in demand can be met through energy conservation measures and modest investments in local renewables such as solar.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s website, the share of U.S. total utility-scale electricity generation from nonhydropower renewables is expected to increase by almost a full percentage point each of the next two years.

Dane County is leading the way. A massive solar energy site is planned for the Dane County Regional Airport. It would be the largest solar energy project in south-central Wisconsin and the second largest in Wisconsin. Coupled with other conservation and local renewables projects, it means we don’t need to spend $500+ million for a new huge powerline to bring power from elsewhere.

So enough with the Cardinal-Hickory Creek powerline idea. It is not needed and would deface treasured natural resources.

You can view the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) here.

You can email comments on the DEIS to comments@CardinalHickoryCreekEIS.us

If you need help with your comments, see here.

Call it Driftless Border

by Drew Hanson

There is a place in Dane County with many names including the Cross Plains Reserve, Interpretive Site, Ice Age Complex and Cross Plains State Park. None of these names speak to the uniqueness of this place which distinctly straddles the border between glaciated and unglaciated landscapes. I propose we call it Driftless Border.

The current name was chosen out of convenience before any public land had been acquired. It was named for the nearby town. By analogy, imagine Rib Mountain State Park instead called Wausau State Park. Names matter.

The Driftless Area is an expansive part of southwest Wisconsin that was untouched by Pleistocene glaciers. Most of the Driftless Area’s outline is subtle, especially to the untrained eye, partly due to the presence of older glacial deposits. In other places, the boundary of the Driftless Area is invisible because the glacial deposits that had defined its boundary were carried away by glacial meltwater or other erosional processes. However, in Dane County between Cross Plains and Verona, the Driftless Area is bordered by geologically young glacial deposits, giving this part of the Driftless Area a well defined border. Hence the name, Driftless Border.

The unique geology of the Driftless Border was well-known to University of Wisconsin geologist Fredrik Thwaites (1883-1961) whose 1908 master’s thesis described the geology of the Cross Plains/Verona/Middleton area. A biography of Thwaites appeared in Geoscience Wisconsin, volume 18 and is downloadable at https://wgnhs.uwex.edu/pubs/gs18a09/

Thwaites’ knowledge of the Driftless Border and its national significance undoubtedly shaped National Park Service geologist Robert Rose’s review of Ray Zillmer’s proposed Ice Age National Park in Wisconsin. In 1961 Rose wrote:

“The driftless area of Wisconsin is world famous because it is an unglaciated area of considerable size … lying far within extensively glaciated territory… Several eminent geologists who have been consulted are unanimous in the view that a segment embracing a good example of the moraine-driftless area relationships is highly essential in illustrating the story of continental glaciation. With the completion of each field study, beginning with the initial reconnaissance of 1958, the desirability of including such a segment becomes more firmly recognized… The relationships between moraine and bedrock of sedimentary origin are most strikingly exhibited in an area of about 9,000 acres south and east of Cross Plains. Within this area rugged morainal ridges belonging to the Wisconsin [Glaciation] occur while the strikingly eroded margins of the driftless area lie immediately to the west and south. In brief, this key area is a self-contained unit scenically and scientifically.”

This is why this area became a unit of the National Scientific Reserve and underscores the rationale for the name, Driftless Border.

Some will argue that "Driftless Border" is arbitrary because the border of the Driftless Area extends for miles in either direction. But isn't Rocky Mountain National Park named for a mountain range that spans thousands of miles from Mexico to Alaska?

Call it Driftless Border.

Naturally, the Driftless Border also needs a designation, such as state park, national reserve, national monument, etc. but that is for another discussion.

For additional information about the unique geology of the Driftless Border, see:
Geology of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail, David M. Mickelson, Louis J. Maher Jr., and Susan Simpson, University of Wisconsin Press, 2011; and
Ice Age Complex at Cross Plains, Final General Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, 2013.

Before Bears Ears

by Drew Hanson

For weeks conservationists have been fretting over the President’s low regard for the Antiquities Act. The concern is justified. Stripping protections from Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments is not only legally questionable, it opens these areas to irreparable damage. Sad as it is, this is not the first time a treasured place has been diminished by short-sightedness and greed. Long before President Trump’s controversial actions, a revered Wisconsin landscape also suffered a loss of protections.

1959 USGS Hartland topo map

The Southern Kettle Moraine State Forest (or “Southern Kettles”) was established in 1937 by the legislature to protect a long, narrow belt of glacial ridges in southeast Wisconsin. Its original boundary stretched between Whitewater Lake and the village of Hartland. In the decades that followed, acquisition of lands progressed too slowly for southeast Wisconsin conservationists and supporters of a long-distance hiking trail. But too quickly for others.

Completion in 1956 of the first segment of interstate highway 94 from Milwaukee to within five miles of this part of the Southern Kettles increasingly opened doors to the development of exurban residential subdivisions. The skids of Milwaukee’s white flight were greased. Rural landowners and residential subdivision developers began calling for an end to land acquisition for the Southern Kettle Moraine State Forest.

Bowing to the local pressure, in 1965 the State reduced the boundary of the Southern Kettles by 9,000 acres--a reduction of more than 25%. The reduction decapitated the State Forest, eliminating the portion between highway D near Hunters Lake and the village Hartland. Unsatisfied, the critics kept up their drumbeat of opposition.

1965 reductions to the Southern Kettles shown in red

At a 1968 public hearing in the Eagle Village Hall regarding the future of the Southern Kettle Moraine State Forest, Harlan Clinkenbeard, Assistant Director of the Southeast Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission stated, “The Kettle Moraine represents one of the most significant natural resource areas in Wisconsin.” He highlighted the many values of the area from recreation to recharge of the groundwater aquifer and concluded his remarks with, “The importance of the Kettle Moraine to the seven-county region in which 42 percent of the state’s population resides is immeasurable and the loss of this area to urban development may cause irreparable damage to both the land and water resources of the region.”

His warning went unheeded. Again succumbing to pressure, in 1970 the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board voted to remove an additional 1,970 acres from the Southern Kettle Moraine State Forest. The reduction lopped off another area from the northern tip of the Southern Kettles.

1970 reductions to the Southern Kettles shown in black

Every time I drive interstate highway 94 between Madison and Milwaukee I think about these removals from the State Forest. I see scars where a public forest was supposed to be. I feel disgust and grief.

Some will say the loss of protections for lands in Wisconsin is easier to accept than the loss of protections for lands in Utah. But that’s just Mountain Majesty Bias.

Today, most of those nearly 11,000 acres are either large lot residential subdivisions or one-story commercial developments. If the Natural Resources Board had not reduced the State Forest by almost 11,000 acres, perhaps the groundwater recharge area for Waukesha would have been safeguarded. Perhaps Waukesha would not have needed to request water from Lake Michigan. Perhaps the Ice Age Trail would have passed through a State Forest corridor for an additional 12 off-road miles. Who were the winners and who were the losers?

Perhaps Bears Ears will fare better.



Click on maps to enlarge them.

Forest Majesty

By Drew Hanson

Have you ever tried to explain majesty? It is no easy thing to put to words. It is a subjective thing that can inspire and motivate people. You know it when you see it. One example is mountain majesty. Another is a stand of big trees.

It seems a fair assumption that most people have felt a sense of wonder or awe when standing at the base of really big trees. It does not matter that the big trees of California are bigger than big trees elsewhere. It’s all relative. I have stood among giant sequoia and redwood but still have my sense of wonder and awe piqued when I stand beside mature white pine or bur oak. No matter how you define big, big trees are majestic. This is especially true where there are many of them in an old growth or virgin forest.

Call it forest majesty. Any place where trees are allowed to reach old age can offer forest majesty. But trees do not reach old age unless they have people who care about them a whole awful lot.

Wisconsin is one place that lost nearly all its virgin forest. People tend to think our original forests were all cleared by 1900. In fact, a surprising amount of uncut forest remained in America’s Dairyland well into the 1930s, including areas along today’s Ice Age Trail in Lincoln and Langlade counties. Click on the map below to better see where virgin forest remained in 1932.

So, in the 1930s, while the states of Tennessee and North Carolina were rushing to save some of their last stands of virgin forest to create Smoky Mountains National Park, Wisconsin was cutting hers down. The stands of big trees that remain in Wisconsin today are tiny remnants at places like Cathedral of Pines in Oconto County and Gerstberger Pines in Taylor County.

Today’s Wisconsinites who desire the inspiration of an old growth forest must travel to the Smokies or to Michigan’s Porkies or even California’s sequoias.

However, this is not just a story of loss. This is also a story of action. If we manage some of our lands properly, Wisconsin can regain some of its lost forest majesty. Future generations of Wisconsinites could be able to hike through old growth forest to marvel at enormous trees. We should make it a priority to ensure this happens along portions of the Ice Age Trail.

Some areas along the Trail are going to continue to see timber harvest. In some cases, it is necessary. But in order for more segments of the Ice Age Trail to be places of inspiration, places where people return again and again, where more local economies benefit from the Trail, more areas along it must become places of forest majesty. More miles of the Trail need to provide wonder and awe.

What is needed are for middle-age native forests along the Ice Age Trail to be given permanent protection. Places like the Ringle and Chequamegon segments would make good candidates. This will ensure that future generations can experience the inspirational grandeur of forest majesty.

It’s up to us. What are you going to do to help?

Ringle Segment Groundbreaking

It was a pleasure to be in the woods with such a great group of people. Volunteers from all over Wisconsin assembled east of Wausau this weekend to have fun, work safely using hand tools and grit and be part of something much bigger than any of us. We put in two days on a Mobile Skills Crew project that will be a multi-year effort to build a premier six-mile segment of the Ringle Segment of the Ice Age Trail.

Volunteers first opened the Ringle Segment to the public over 40 years ago. That previous generation of volunteers used whatever they could to piece together a route. Old logging roads, what we today call troads, were often the best option. That old route served us well but it took quite a beating and missed many landforms needed to tell the unique story that can be woven into the Ice Age Trail.

Over the past fifteen years, the properties needed to make this segment of the IAT permanent have been purchased from willing landowners. Protection work is time consuming and not possible without the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), state Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program, county governments and private donations. The Ringle Segment puzzle pieces are now in place.

Three years ago, Tim Malzhan and I began to explore this recently protected trailway with new eyes, with the hope of re-imagining and redesigning the Ringle Segment according to current trail layout, design, compliance and construction standards.

We designed a new route to take in many of the best landforms of the trailway, to tell a nationally significant natural history story and to be a sustainable recreation resource. It took hundreds of hours. The new route underwent archeological, water quality and endangered species review before any ground breaking could occur.

So when fifty or so of us gathered this weekend to finally break ground, we were standing on the shoulders of many people and over four decades of effort. But we are not finished. Oh no. We made better than expected progress but only scratched the surface. It will be a few more years before you will be able to hike all six miles and it will be worth the all the effort. I can assure you this is going to be an outstanding segment of Ice Age Trail to hike not just once. It's gonna be a great one!

If this sounds interesting to you, consider joining us to volunteer at future projects May 17-21, August 9-13 and in future years. To find out how, click on http://www.iceagetrail.org/volunteer/mobile-skills-crew-program/project-schedule/

Rock on!

Smoky Mtns Dispatch

By Drew Hanson

The stars aligned recently, giving me a rare opportunity to spend seven consecutive days hiking. Since there is a shortage of some kinds of hiking near my home, my chosen destination was Smoky Mountains National Park which boasts 800 miles of hiking trails plus three long-distance trails extending from the park.

Hike every day, I did. One was an eleven-mile trek to the top of Mt. LeConte and back. A couple days included out-and-back hikes on sections of the famed Appalachian Trail. Other days included loops or multiple shorter hikes in a single day.

It was an exhilarating trip, great for my physical and mental health. In the end, I could not help but wish I could do this more often, if even just on weekends. But life at home is too demanding for a regular 10-12-hour drive to the Smokies.

This led me to the question: Why does my home state of Wisconsin not offer this many hiking opportunities? Some will answer with something about how the Smokies have mountains and Wisconsin does not but that’s just Mountain Majesty Bias.

Yah, sure, the mountains are pretty. I visited this national park not because it has (small) mountains but because there are hundreds of miles of hiking trails within an hour's drive. One can hike the Smokies all day and then hike a different trail all the next day, and the next, and the next, literally for years and still hike different trails every weekend.

One day of my visit a trailhead parking lot was overflowing, easily 50 cars, used by people who want to hike and who, like me, were spending money in nearby towns. There are dozens of other trailhead parking lots in the park. It's a shame my home state did not make this kind of investment decades ago and that last year my governor vetoed $75k/year for the Ice Age Trail. The Smokies have so many miles of hiking trails because decades ago people made a choice and continue to make it so.

Smoky Mountains National Park was established in 1934. Most of the land to create the park was purchased by the states of Tennessee and North Carolina, then donated to the National Park Service. Today, with its mountains that are but hills by western standards, Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited national park in the United States. In 2010, it had over 20 million visitors! It is the primary economic driver for many nearby communities. It is a success.

Where I currently live in southern Wisconsin, there are places to hike for an hour or two. What is severely lacking are places to hike most of a day for multiple days, hence the need to travel so far to have the experience I did. One reason for the shortfall is Wisconsin’s decades-long shotgun approach of creating scattered parks and wildlife areas across the state. Another reason is that hunting groups have too often treated a hiking trail as a threat. Another reason has to do with Mountain Majesty Bias.

Fortunately, time has not run out. Wisconsin can still fix this problem and have a balanced outdoor recreation portfolio. By investing in the Ice Age Trail, the way states in the east have for decades invested in their trails, the Badger State could still have many more multi-day hiking opportunities.

The IAT's Big Loop: How Did That Happen?

by Drew Hanson

One of the common questions people ask about the Ice Age Trail is, "Why does it have a big loop in the middle?" Sometimes called the doughnut or inaccurately called the bifurcation, the big loop occupies a special chapter in the Ice Age Trail story.

Most of the general route of the Ice Age Trail is due to the plan of Ray Zillmer. He envisioned a long distance hiking trail following the interlobate ridges of the Kettle Moraine in eastern Wisconsin and the terminal moraine west to the border with Minnesota. Without Ray Zillmer, there would be no Ice Age Trail. But once Zillmer died in 1960, the Ice Age Trail almost died with him. More than 10 years passed before Congressman Henry Reuss stepped up to become the Trail’s greatest champion.

For the next three decades, Congressman Reuss was a major influence on most things Ice Age Trail. The full body of his Ice Age Trail accomplishments is far beyond the scope of this article. While the big loop is something he did not intend to create and something he at times worked against in favor of his preferred eastern leg, more than any single person we can thank Congressman Reuss for the existence of the big loop.

the Big Loop near the middle of the Ice Age Trail

During the years following Ray Zillmer’s untimely death, Ice Age Trail leaders increasingly realized that one of the weaknesses of Zillmer’s planned route was that it was not really possible to tell the story of continental glaciation if the Trail’s route adhered rigidly to the interlobate and terminal moraines, not to mention the fact that it would lack variety for anyone walking more than a short segment. Having the Ice Age Trail weave other types of landforms not found on a terminal moraine into the route would make for a better trail. Worth noting is the fact that neither leg of the big loop follows the terminal moraine.

One of Congressman Reuss’s many Ice Age Trail accomplishments was the book, On the Trail of the Ice Age, which he authored through three editions. Initially published in January, 1976 it was the first guidebook on the Ice Age Trail and it included the first set of maps and detailed description of the entire thousand mile route. In the doughnut area, the 1976 edition shows the Trail entirely as a single route of connecting roads between Sauk City and Coloma, passing through the city of Portage. The route skirts the edge of John Muir Park but remarkably misses the Baraboo Hills and Devils Lake Park entirely. The book gives no hint of the western route shown two years earlier on the official Ice Age Park and Trail Foundation brochure of 1974.

Ice Age Trail map from 1974

A major milestone in the history of the Ice Age Trail was the 1980 passage of the Ice Age Trail Act by Congress and signed by the President the same year. Although many people advocated for its designation as a National Scenic Trail, no one was more important to this effort than Congressman Reuss. The law even states that the Trail will be, “generally following the route described in ‘On the Trail of the Ice Age...’ by Henry S. Reuss, Member of Congress, dated 1980.” The route shown in the 1980 edition is the eastern leg — none of the western leg.

As required by the National Trails System Act, the National Park Service completed the Ice Age National Scenic Trail Comprehensive Plan for Management and Use in 1983. The route shown on maps in the plan roughly follows the eastern leg of the big loop but a note on one map states, “The Ice Age Trail Council is working on a rerouting of the trail from Devils Lake to Greenwood Wildlife Area. The rerouting would take the trail west into the Glacial Lake Wisconsin area...” (i.e., the western leg of what later became the big loop).

Also required by the National Trails System Act was appointment of an Advisory Council to assist the National Park Service “with respect to matters relating to the trail, including the selection of rights-of-way.” Appointed by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, the Advisory Council was comprised of a dozen members including former Wisconsin Governor Warren Knowles, prominent citizens and active Ice Age Trail supporters. Given the conflicting ideas, the Advisory Council was not surprisingly asked to weigh in on the route through the doughnut area. In mid-1984 the Advisory Council approved the western route “to take the trail into the glacial Lake Wisconsin area” as the official route for the Ice Age Trail. But leaders from the city of Portage felt left out of the decision and Congressman Reuss remained unwilling to let go of his preferred route.

1976 map from On the Trail of the Ice Age

In a January 9, 1986 letter from Ice Age Park and Trail Foundation (later renamed the Ice Age Trail Alliance) President John Zillmer (Ray’s son) to Congressman Henry Reuss, John Zillmer addressed the Congressman’s efforts. At the time, Congressman Reuss also sat on the board of directors of the Ice Age Park and Trail Foundation. Referring to the route through the city of Portage, John Zillmer wrote, “this route has repeatedly been rejected by the Ice Age Park and Trail Foundation in spite of great pressure by you to approve it. As a matter of fact, you have been the only director to support this route. Your planned route was unanimously rejected by the Ice Age National Scenic Trail Advisory Council. It has been rejected by the Ice Age Trail Council. It has been rejected by the National Park Service. It has been rejected by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources... You have contributed so very much to what progress has been made. Why in the world are you now undermining all that you have worked so hard to accomplish?”

There was a lot of back and forth during those years about whether to make either the eastern or western legs the official route of the Ice Age Trail and designate the other one a National Side/Connecting Trail.

an Ice Age Trail map from 1986*

At one point Congressman Reuss resigned in protest from the board of directors of the Ice Age Park and Trail Foundation only to rejoin a few months later. The issue remained a source of unrest. Some maps of this era showed the eastern route through Portage while others showed the western route into the Driftless Area and Glacial Lake Wisconsin, depending on who created the map.

At last, an official effort to put the questions to bed reached fruition in early 1987. Letters were exchanged between Congressman Bruce Vento, Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands, and William Penn Mott Jr., National Park Service Director, that outlined what Congressman Vento called “a reasonable solution” of making the two legs of the big loop both part of the official route of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail. Thus the big loop was born out of compromise.

Still, in the 1990 edition of On the Trail of the Ice Age, Congressman Reuss showed none of the western leg of the big loop on any maps but he did include a one-paragraph description of its general route.

In 1999 the Partnership for the National Trail System held its annual conference at Lake Tahoe. Afterward a few of us accepted an invitation from Congressman Reuss to meet at his retirement home in Belvedere, CA. He and his wife were generous and delightful hosts. The elderly statesman had a few Ice Age Trail business items he wanted to impress upon us. One of these was the big loop. As he had done with me once before during a telephone call, at his dining room table he asked that we remove the western leg of the big loop from all maps. Having not lost his powers of persuasion, he made a strong case. But one of my companions that day was a long-time Ice Age Trail board member who provided an equally compelling counter argument. The retired Congressman elegantly shifted the discussion to his next topic.

Questions about the big loop still arise from time to time. Aspiring Thousand Milers sometimes ask if one must hike both legs of the big loop to be considered a Thousand Miler. The answer is “no.” In this case, half a doughnut is sufficient.

To some, the big loop remains a quirk in the Ice Age Trail. Others embrace it as part of what makes the Trail unique and wonderful.


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* 1986 map appeared in Wisconsin's Foundations: A Review of the State's Geology and Its Influence on Geography and Human Activity, by Gwen Schultz, University of Wisconsin Press, 1986.


A version of this article first appeared in the Summer, 2016 edition of Mammoth Tales, a quarterly publication of the Ice Age Trail Alliance.

Proposed Yellow River Hemlock Esker National Monument

As wild places around the country are bestowed the protection of national monument status, it is time this attention and safeguarding be given to deserving areas along the Ice Age Trail. One such special place is located in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, in Taylor County, Wisconsin.

The proposed Yellow River Hemlock Esker National Monument is a magical place, centered around the prominent Hemlock Esker. This esker was created during the Ice Age by a river flowing at the base of a vast continental ice sheet. Imagine how huge the glacier must have been to have a river flowing inside at its base that deposited a miles-long sinuous ridge, what geologists today call an esker. The eastern and southern flanks of the esker, drained by sections of the wild Yellow River and some of its tributaries, are also part of the proposed monument.

Natural communities within the proposed monument include extensive tracts of mature hemlock-hardwood forest, areas of rich maple-basswood forest, open meadow in the upper reaches of Sailor Creek, several stands of lowland conifer dominated by white cedar and black ash and several headwater, morainal stream segments canopied with long lived species. The hemlock-hardwood forest is the dominant forest type occurring on hummocky end moraine and esker topography. Common associates include yellow birch, sugar maple and red maple. White ash, red oak, white spruce and super-canopy white pine are also present. Northern white cedar is frequently found on slopes bordering wetlands and in some ground moraine areas. Frequent snags and coarse woody debris contribute to the old-growth structure. An open shrub layer is dominated by hazelnut and gooseberry. Ground flora includes sweet cicely, intermediate wood fern, common oak fern and rough-leaved rice grass. The lowland coniferous forest forms a closed canopy white cedar forest in some areas. Black ash, red maple, yellow birch, hemlock and balsam fir are common associates. The ground layer is lush and diverse featuring such species as cinnamon fern, sensitive fern, one-sided shin-leaf, dwarf red raspberry, bunchberry and bryophytes. The understory is dense and consists of mountain maple, speckled alder and common winterberry. Bog forests of tamarack and black spruce with red maple, paper birch, yellow birch and white pine are present. Northern sedge meadows are common along Sailor Creek, especially where beaver have flooded the hardwood swamps. Both the northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) and red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus) are documented breeding birds. Common resident birds include winter wren, hermit thrush, red-eyed vireo, ovenbird, blackburnian warbler and black-throated green warbler.

As national monuments go, the proposed Yellow River Hemlock Esker National Monument would be a small one, only about 8,000 acres. But what it lacks in size, it more than makes up for in significance. It includes most of the Ice Age Semi-Primitive Area, most of Lost Lake Esker State Natural Area and one of the wildest segments of the entire thousand-mile Ice Age National Scenic Trail. Note that contour maps of this area are in error and omit most of Hemlock Esker.

The proposed monument is administered by the Secretary of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service, Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. National monument designation is needed to at last resolve long-term management issues. First, authorized and unauthorized motorized use is occurring within this geologically and recreationally unique area where the highest and best use is primitive, pedestrian recreational uses such as hiking, fishing, snowshoeing, birding and non-motorized hunting of non-predator species. Second, although timber harvest in parts of this area is currently limited, it should be permanently further restricted in the larger area encompassed by the proposed monument. This would allow additional old growth characteristics to develop that support wildlife species who depend on old growth conditions and enhance primitive, pedestrian recreation. Finally, existing modest protections for the Ice Age Trail and Semi-Primitive Area are temporary, based only on a management plan that is regularly re-written and open to interpretation. Negotiations over how this unique area needs to be managed should be put to rest instead of being re-hashed every decade or two. Local tourism would benefit by having such a unique and permanently protected national monument as more people would travel greater distances to experience such a wild and special place.

Some of the countless articles showing the economic benefits of national monuments are:
http://headwaterseconomics.org/public-lands/protected-lands/national-monuments/
http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2010/03/there-economic-value-national-monument-your-backyard5531
http://conservationlands.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/BSM-EIA-Final-Report-2015.pdf
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2016/09/16/economics-says-yay-to-the-atlantic-ocean-marine-national-monument/#4e3fa67c3ed1

The proposed Yellow River Hemlock Esker National Monument would be good for the public, good for wildlife and good for the local economy.

Wisconsin Hiking Pioneers

by Drew Hanson

Wisconsin has an impressive but largely unknown hiking history. This series highlights the accomplishments of five of the state's hiking pioneers. A couple of them may be obvious, but others will be full of surprises. Along the way you'll see how Wisconsin helped shape the sport of hiking in the United States and hopefully discover a lesson for the future of hiking in the Badger State.

Click on the names below for each article.

John Wesley Powell

John Muir

Harold Bradley

Ray Zillmer

Fritz Benedict

Wisconsin's hiking heritage runs deep!

Wisconsin Hiking Pioneers:Benedict

by Drew Hanson

This is the fifth and final segment in the Wisconsin Hiking Pioneers series.

Fredric “Fritz” Benedict was born in Medford, Wisconsin, in 1914. As a teenager his family moved to Madison.

Benedict went on to study landscape architecture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) where he was influenced by renowned landscape architect Jens Jensen. UW landscape architecture students of the era were sent to The Clearing, Door County to learn directly from Jensen.

Benedict was active in the Wisconsin Hoofers and elected club president in 1935. His Hoofers experiences brought him under the influence of Harold Bradley.

Benedict's 1938 master’s thesis, Hiking Trails in the Lower Wisconsin River Valley, is a masterpiece in the history of hiking. At its center is a loop trail of approximately 150 miles plus several smaller loops and spurs. More important than the trail route and his detailed description of it is the rigor with which he treats the subject of hiking.

Beginning with broad brush strokes, he states that his thesis is “an attempt to show the needs of hiking in the middle west in general and the Madison area in lower Wisconsin in particular. A detailed study is made of a definite area in Wisconsin and the principles of trail design applied to this area. For some time various individuals in Madison, both in the university and in the city, have felt a need for adequate hiking trails in the interesting driftless area to the west and northwest of Madison. This portion of the lower Wisconsin river basin, with its varied topography, forests, and fields, is as interesting to the hiker as any part of the middle west.”

In deciding the types of uses for which his trail would be designed, Benedict quotes trailblazing conservationists who pointed to humanity's roots: “'The best way to become acquainted with any scenery is to engage in some pursuit in it which harmonizes with it.' — Thoreau. What better way to become harmonized with scenery and the primeval influence than to build a trail and travel along it on foot. Benton Mackaye, originator of the Appalachian Trail, gives an excellent definition of primeval influence: 'Primeval influence is the opposite of machine influence. It is the antidote for over-rapid mechanization. It is getting feet on the ground with eyes toward the sky—not eyes on the ground with feet on the lever. It is feeling what you touch and seeing what you look at. It is the only thing whence first we came and toward which we ultimately live. It is the source of all our knowledge—the open book of which all others are but copies.'”

Not to leave room for interpretation, Benedict provides technical reasons why his southern Wisconsin trail would be primarily for hiking: “No trail built for hiking should be used for horse travel. Horses ordinarily require a wider trail, and they soon ruin the footway and cause an erosional problem in steep sections. It might be possible to use parts of the trail for cross country skiing but in general this sport requires separate trails. Ski trail routes call for more up and down work, elimination of sharp turns and rocky spots, etc.”

One of the photos from Benedict's 1938 master's thesis

Benedict traces the need for hiking trails to the advent of the automobile. As long as there had been roads, people walked them but once automobiles began using the roads, the routes became unpleasant and less safe for pedestrian pursuits. In Benedict’s words, people were “driven off the highways by the automobile.” Add to this the fact that more and more urban dwellers lacked the skills and personal contacts with large rural landowners to take overland walks through the countryside. Thus hiking trails came to be a primary means of providing a primeval influence and physical exercise.

He closes his prophetic introduction by capturing the essence of the hiking problem in the Midwest:

“The biggest hiking seasons are spring and fall. Summer is too hot for many, but some hike all winter. Most hikes are of short duration, a half day or day, with Sundays being the most popular day of the week. In the eastern and western sections of the country are well developed woodland and mountain trails. There are through trails, side trails and connecting trails, resulting in networks that enable hikers to take round trip hikes of practically any duration. Hikers in the middle west are not so fortunate. The few well beaten paths found in our state parks and other scenic areas are usually overcrowded, unplanned and usually too short and unconnected to furnish even a satisfactory half day’s hike. The only way to get off the highways, which are no longer good hiking routes, because of the auto, is to walk through private wood-lots and fields. This method is unsatisfactory for the following reasons: many farmers resent having their lands indiscriminately traveled over; few city people are well enough acquainted with the country to enable them to plan a hike that will lead them through interesting country, past scenic sites, springs, etc.; much of the pleasure of tramping is lost if constant care must be exercised to prevent stumbling over fallen logs and keeping branches out of one’s face. In some places such as on the Baraboo range, it Is possible to hike along logging roads, but these always seem to skirt the high places instead of going right over them.

For the foregoing reasons it is apparent that if the sport of hiking is to prosper and if hikers are to receive fullest enjoyment from their journeys into the out-of-doors, we must build a network of trails such as has been done in the eastern and western parts of our country.”

Trail designers of today might be surprised to discover the technical knowledge that Benedict had amassed in 1938. He describes how, for instance, “Excessive gradient (over 18%) sometimes causes an erosional problem if the trail bed is heavily traveled.” He also shows a sensitivity toward rural landowners that is key to the success of trails in the East and Midwest.

As for the West, he states, “The Pacific Crest Trail system running from Canada and Sierra Nevada ranges for 2,300 miles is routed mainly through national, state, and county parks and forests. For this reason and because of the type of country through which the trail passes, their experience is not so valuable a precedent for us in the middle west as the eastern activity… The long trunk trails have proved most popular in the east, and it is apparent that with the immense objective of a trunk trail, it is much easier to gain enthusiasm and publicity.”

Benedict's 1938 general trail map

Benedict’s proposed trail route includes areas along today’s Ice Age Trail: Cross Plains Reserve, Gibraltar Rock to Merrimac and Devils Lake. In the 1930s, Harold Bradley and others created segments of Benedict's trail through the Baraboo Hills. Most segments, however, were not built. In some cases, such as where Benedict's trail would pass Skillet Creek Falls or a ridge paralleling Madison’s Old Sauk Road, the land has been developed with private homes.

Shortly after earning his master’s degree, Benedict accepted the invitation of eminent architect Frank Lloyd Wright to be head gardener at Taliesen, near Spring Green, Wisconsin. But Benedict’s interest in Wright’s philosophy of the integration of architecture and landscape led him to study design at both Taliesen and Taliesen West in Phoenix, Arizona for the next three years.

Benedict and Frank Lloyd Wright

In 1941, during one of his trips between Taliesen and Taliesen West, Benedict visited Aspen, Colorado for the National Skiing Championships. Less than a year later, he was drafted into the 10th Mountain Division of the U.S. Army and trained at nearby Leadville. After seeing active duty in Italy, he returned to Aspen in 1945 and with other ski troopers became the nucleus for the Colorado ski industry. In the ensuing decades he designed over 200 buildings in the Aspen area and three of the nation’s premier ski areas—Vail, Snowmass and Breckenridge as well as additions to Aspen and Steamboat Springs.

Late in life, Benedict was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects. The nomination stated that he “left a legendary influence on design and construction in the Rocky Mountain West...(creating) classics of the mountain vernacular.” In 1989 his alma mater bestowed on him its Outstanding Alumnus award.

Significant to the Wisconsin Hiking Pioneers series, another of Benedict’s achievements was his founding of a trail system that was created and exists today. In what must have been an exuberant application of his UW master’s thesis, in 1980 Benedict founded the 10th Mountain Hut and Trail System. Utilizing vast public lands of Colorado, the trail system has grown to include 34 backcountry huts connected by 350 miles of trails.

Postscript

For thousands of years, long-distance trails, like the ancient trail between Prairie du Chien and Milwaukee, kept us in step with part of our humanity. John Wesley Powell’s hike across Wisconsin and John Muir’s thousand-mile trek to the Gulf of Mexico continued the tradition. It is an experience Ray Zillmer wanted to preserve when he championed the Ice Age National Park and Trail. But such inspiring treks will be possible in the future only if the land needed to complete long-distance trails is in the public trust.

More than three-quarters of a century after Benedict predicted “a need for adequate hiking trails,” it remains very difficult to find high-quality, half-day to multi-day hiking trails in southern Wisconsin and more broadly anywhere within three hours of Chicago.

A visionary plan was not enough to allow Benedict's proposed trail to become reality. The Appalachian Trail and nearly every trail in the West prove that having the land needed to construct a trail is more important to its success than plans.

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Sources:

“Aspen’s 20th Century Architecture: Modernism,” http://www.aspenpitkin.com/Portals/0/docs/City/Comdev/HPC/modernismcontextpaperSMALLER.pdf

“Conservation Pioneers: Jens Jensen and The Friends of our Native Landscape,” by William H. Tishler and Erik M. Ghenoiu, Wisconsin Magazine of History, Summer, 2003, p 12.

The Milwaukee Journal, Nov. 10, 1935, section VII., p 2.

The Denver Post, Joanne Ditmer, “Aspen Hall of Fame”.

“Hiking Trails in the Lower Wisconsin River Valley,” by Fredric Allen Benedict, master of science thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1938.

“Hoofer Sailing Club History,” http://www.hoofersailing.org/?q=about/history.

“Hoofers, A History,” http://opo.hoofers.org/node/83.

http://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/files/OAHP/Guides/Architects_benedictF.pdf

Wisconsin Hiking Pioneers:Zillmer

by Drew Hanson

Ray Zillmer left for posterity Wisconsin’s greatest trail, the organization that promotes and protects it and a backpack of conservation and exploration accomplishments.

Although direct evidence of Zillmer meeting previous Wisconsin Hiking Pioneer Harold Bradley is yet to be discovered, interaction between them seems possible if not likely. Except for Zillmer's one year at Harvard, he and Bradley were both at the University of Wisconsin–Madison 1906–1914 (when enrollment ranged between only 2,700–4,500 students) and were both active in similar outdoor pursuits. After completing his PhD, Zillmer moved to Milwaukee where he practiced law until his death in 1960.

During the 1930s–1940s, Zillmer became an accomplished and respected explorer and mountaineer. In 1934 Zillmer was part of a team of five mountaineers who completed the first ascent of Anchorite Peak, British Columbia, Canada. He would go on to summit many other peaks and describe previously uncharted lands.


In the summer of 1938, he and a companion retraced the steps of Alexander MacKenzie's 1793 expedition between the Fraser and Bella Coola rivers, through part of what is today Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park. He described the adventure in detail in his first of four articles published in the Canadian Alpine Journal.

The American Alpine Journal also published several of his exploration and mountaineering articles, including:

• "The Exploration of the Source of the Thompson River in British Columbia", 1940;
• "Exploration of the Northern Monashee Range", 1942;
• "The Location of Mt. Milton and the Restoration of the Names 'Mt. Milton' and 'Mt.Cheadle'", 1943;
• "The Exploration of the Cariboo Range from the East", 1944;
• "The Exploration of the Sources of the McLennan River", 1946.

In recognition of his accomplishments, Mount Zillmer, Zillmer Creek and Zillmer Glacier in British Columbia's Cariboo Range were all named in his honor.

Back in his home state of Wisconsin, through his leadership in the Izaak Walton League, Ray Zillmer led the effort to acquire land for the Kettle Moraine State Forest and founded the Ice Age Trail.

Zillmer's insistence that long, narrow corridors of public land serve greater numbers of outdoor recreationists than western national parks and his proposal for a long-distance hiking trail in Wisconsin made an impression on Wisconsin Governor Gaylord Nelson. Armed with this appreciation and later as a U.S. Senator, Nelson introduced legislation to designate the Appalachian Trail America's first national scenic trail and introduced the National Trails System Act of 1968.

For many years Zillmer led weekend hikes in the Kettle Moraine during fall, winter and early spring. The hikes were memorable for the miles covered as well as the lunch which consisted of various cans of soup brought by fellow hikers, all combined into a single pot.

In the 1950s he worked closely with the Wisconsin Conservation Department (precursor to the DNR) to design backcountry huts for hikers in the Kettle Moraine State Forest. He then donated thousands of dollars to their construction.

In 1958 he established the Ice Age National Park Citizens Committee and the Ice Age Park and Trail Foundation, later renamed the Ice Age Trail Alliance. His articles proposing an Ice Age National Park in Wisconsin were published in 1958 by the Milwaukee Public Museum and in 1959 by the Wisconsin Alumnus magazine.

In 1933 the Wisconsin Izaak Walton League named Zillmer "Man of the Year" for his work on the Kettle Moraine State Forest. In 1959 he was presented a plaque by the National Campers and Hikers Association for his efforts to preserve natural areas for public use. A trail system in the Northern Kettle Moraine State Forest is named the Zillmer Trails and a park in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin is named Ray Zillmer Park, both in his honor. He was inducted into the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame in 1993. Today the highest award of achievement given by the Ice Age Trail Alliance is the Ray Zillmer Award.

Following his death in December, 1960 the Milwaukee Journal opined, "...the people of Milwaukee and of Wisconsin and the conservation movement nationally are deeply indebted to Mr. Zillmer. His vision, his boundless energy and his dogged determination in behalf of worthy causes to which he was devoted became legend . . . No community and no state ever has enough of men like Raymond T. Zillmer. And the loss of even one, inevitable as it may be, is cause for deep regret."

Find other articles in the Wisconsin Hiking Pioneers series at http://pedestrianview.blogspot.com/p/wisconsin-hiking-pioneers.html.

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Sources:

Our Greatest Trail, Erik Ness, Wisconsin Trails magazine, April 2002, Vol. 43, No. 2

"Climb Anchorite Peak", The Montreal Gazette, July 23, 1934.

Along Wisconsin's Ice Age Trail, 2008, page 8.

"Scorning A Glacial Gift", The Milwaukee Journal, August 21, 1988.

"Origins of Wisconsin's Ice Age Trail", Sarah Mittlefeldht, Wisconsin Magazine of History: Volume 90, number 3, spring 2007, page 7.

These American Lands, Dyan Zaslowsky and T.H. Watkins, 1994, pages 258-259.

http://www.iceagetrail.org/iata/history/

"The Wisconsin Glacier National Forest Park", Lore, Milwaukee Public Museum, vol 8, edition 2, 1958.

"Wisconsin’s Proposed Ice Age National Park", Wisconsin Alumnus, March, 1959

American Alpine Club, http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12196134700/print

Wisconsin Hiking Pioneers:Bradley

Raised in Berkeley, California, Harold Bradley had the kind of childhood that would seem dreamy to most hikers. His father, Cornelius Bradley, was one of the people assembled in 1892 by their friend, John Muir, to found the Sierra Club.

Muir was a frequent guest at the Bradley home, sometimes spending nights and loved for his animated storytelling. Like Muir, Harold and Cornelius hiked and camped in and around Yosemite National Park, including in Hetch Hetchy Valley before it was famously dammed. Mount Bradley, also in the Sierras, is named for Cornelius Bradley.

After earning his PhD at Yale and teaching there for a year, Harold Bradley moved to Madison, Wisconsin in 1906 to become professor of biochemistry and the first faculty member of the University of Wisconsin Medical School.

During a 1927 canoe trip to Canada’s Quetico Park, Harold Bradley and others of his group conceived of an outing club at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Four years later, Bradley co-founded Wisconsin Hoofers.

Hoofers was designed to “foster interest and participation in outdoor activities by providing and developing leadership, instruction, programs, services, and equipment.” Modeled after New Hampshire’s Dartmouth Outing Club, ‘Hoofers' was chosen as the club’s name because Hoofers move by their own power, or "hoof it"!

During its early years, Hoofers held weekly trips for hiking, climbing, archery, and camping, along with a semi-annual 25-mile walk around Lake Mendota. Devils Lake was another center of activity.

Harold Bradley remained an active part of Hoofers activities and his eldest son served a term as Hoofers President. Part of a hiking trail that was created in the 1930s between Baxters Hollow and Devils Lake was marked by Harold Bradley. The trail was extended to Natural Bridge and a few of its bronze markers can still be found today. More broadly, Harold influenced the lives of generations of young adults to enjoy vigorous outdoor pursuits.

1938 map with red line showing trail marked by Harold Bradley

During his years of residing in Wisconsin, Harold Bradley returned to California on many occasions for hiking and skiing trips in the Sierras, sometimes solo and other times with sons or friends. On one ski trip with a son in 1935 Harold happened to meet and befriend the renowned photographer Ansel Adams.

After 42 years of service to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Harold retired to his family home in Berkeley.

Following the tradition of leadership established by his father, Harold became a member of the Sierra Club’s national board of directors in 1951 and served for ten years, including a two-year term as Club President. When he retired from the board he was elected an Honorary Vice President, which he held from 1961 until his election as Honorary President in 1974. In 1966, he was given the John Muir Conservation Award, the highest the Club can extend to anyone.

Harold Bradley helped purchase land at Tuolumne Meadows that was later donated to the National Park Service for inclusion in Yosemite National Park. Introduced to skiing while living in Madison, he was posthumously inducted into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame. The University of Wisconsin-Madison named one of its student residence halls in his honor and he and his wife were lead donors to the construction of its first children's hospital. He also left a legacy for the sport of hiking.

Harold Bradley was a linchpin of Wisconsin hiking history. John Wesley Powell influenced John Muir, who influenced Harold Bradley, who co-founded the Wisconsin Hoofers and influenced at least one of the remaining Wisconsin Hiking Pioneers. Find other articles in the series at http://pedestrianview.blogspot.com/p/wisconsin-hiking-pioneers.html.

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Sources:

“Bradley Memorial Hospital,” https://www2.fpm.wisc.edu/ppnew/featurebldg/pdf/bradley.pdf.

“Hiking Trails in the Lower Wisconsin River Valley,” by Fredric Allen Benedict, master of science thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1938.

“Hoofer Sailing Club History,” http://www.hoofersailing.org/?q=about/history.

“Hoofers Make Plans,” Wisconsin State Journal, November 11, 1935, page 8.

“Hoofers, A History,” http://opo.hoofers.org/node/83. Sierra Club Reminiscences, 1975, http://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/roho/ucb/text/sc_reminiscences2.pdf.

http://www.asbmb.org/uploadedfiles/aboutus/asbmb_history/past_presidents/1930s/1931Bradley.html.

http://www.uwhealthkids.org/mcb-society/harold-cornelius-bradly-physician-circle/3936.