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?

Enjoy Each Step

By Drew Hanson

Mindfulness is not something that comes easy to me. But it is something to which I am learning to strive, or stride, as I build an awareness of my breath and steps.

In his essay Walking Meditation, Thich Nhat Hanh writes, “Walking meditation is really to enjoy the walking—walking not in order to arrive, but just to walk. The purpose is to be in the present moment and, aware of our breathing and our walking, to enjoy each step. Therefore, we have to shake off all worries and anxieties, not thinking of the future, not thinking of the past, just enjoying the present moment.” Increasingly, this is how I try to walk (but rarely succeed).

While I am deeply grateful to Hanh for Peace Is Every Step, he argues that walking must be slow. When he states that running is a way to “print anxiety and sorrow on the Earth,” I think he is pointing a finger in the wrong direction. I agree that running through an airport is not meditative, but I also believe any form of walking, especially when done in nature, can be wonderful and beneficial. When it is done with intention and an awareness of one's breath and steps, regardless of pace, any form of walking can be meditative. As Hanh writes later in the same essay, “If you feel happy, peaceful, and joyful while you are walking, you are practicing correctly.”

Simply enjoy each step.

And breathe.