Patty Loew:
When the radical idea of an Ice Age Trail was first proposed, the Park Service loved it. But then politics intervened, and a park hundreds of miles long was deemed too hard to manage. But the idea kept moving forward.
Dan Small:
And today volunteers carry the heavy burden of making the trail a treasure.
Dan Small:
The Ice Age Trail is a work in progress. And they're always eager for volunteers to join them constructing new trail. It's a great way to see Wisconsin and leave a legacy. The same is true on the North Country National Scenic Trail. This trail allows hikers to experience a variety of northern landscapes across seven states, thanks again to the hard work of many volunteers.
Dan Small:
When completed, the North Country Trail will span 4,600 miles from the Adirondack Mountains of New York, to the Missouri River in North Dakota. The greatest percentage of completed trail lies in Wisconsin. Here too, you'll find the oldest segment, a path used by Wisconsin's earliest inhabitants, dating back 10,000 years, or more.
Tom Gilbert:
We have more miles on the ground now than the Appalachian Trail is long, and at least that many miles more to go.
Dan Smith:
About half the trail is completed. But it will take a lot more work and the acquisition of more land and easements to connect the finished segments, which cross a variety of different habitat types. Bill Menke and a crew of volunteers built this section of boardwalk that allows visitors to hike a portion of the trail that crosses the otherwise inaccessible Brule Bog.
Bill Menke:
This boardwalk is really a special project. And it was a very fun project, because of its massive nature. And it's just fun when you can build something like a structure like a bridge or a boardwalk. It's a little more satisfying for some reason than digging tread in the dirt and moving dirt and boulders all day long. I think it's a really neat structure, because it gets people out here into this environment that people can't typically see, you know, all the spagnum mosses and all the other kinds of mosses, and ferns, and delicate plants that are here. One of the thing that makes the North Country Scenic Trail special, is that it traverses through a wide diversity of environments and places, rather than following a particular geographic feature.
Dan Small:
Another unusual environment crossed by the trail is the Pine Barrens in the Douglas County Wildlife Area.
Tom Gilbert:
So out here, hikers are seeing an entirely different set of plants, and animals, and birds. At some times of the year when you come through here, you'll see various kinds of prairie flowers in bloom. Right now, we have prairie roses and others blooming. So you see a variety of wild flowers here that you don't see elsewhere.
Peter Nordgren:
The Brule St. Croix Portage is one of the traditional routes between the Mississippi Watershed and the Lake Superior Great Lakes Watershed. When you see the deeply rutted area on the trail, this is where the Native people and the voyagers after them climbed up the steep bluff of the trail carrying canoes, and voyager trade goods, and packs. The Portage Trail is one of the places where you can see a public travel route in its natural state, as it was historically in Wisconsin. There's really not any other place that I can think of in the state where you can see a trail as old as this.
Man:
The North Country Trail really is only coming into existence because of the commitment of these partners, state agencies, local agencies, and especially the volunteers. But the volunteers do it all. I and my staff amount to 4-1/2 people. So obviously we don't build and maintain the trail.
Peter Nason:
Lynne, who has a subscription to an outdoor magazine, saw something about the North Country Trail. We pursued it a little further and found that there was a local chapter. We went to a meeting and got involved that way. And we've been involved with the organization ever since.
Lynn Nason:
I like hiking in places where you would not be able to be if it weren't for the trail.
Woman:
We're going to go this way.
Lynn Nason:
The North Country Trail through Wisconsin just gives you so much variety. And we've hiked a lot of these trails over and over again, and we never get tired of it. It's just wonderful to be outside.
Peter Nason:
It's something that I can be involved with, and try to leave a legacy for future generations, and for my grandchildren.
Dan Small:
So, the legacy of the trail lives on as it's passed from one generation to the next.
Patty Loew:
John Muir referred to the National Parks as "A place for rest, inspiration and prayers."
Dan Small:
In 1903, he convinced President Theodore Roosevelt of that on an overnight camping trip, and the national parks service was born. Muir made conservation a popular cause in the united states, and changed the thinking of people around the world. The Wisconsin frontier experience lit his passion for nature, and sparked his revolutionary conservation ethic.
Patty Loew:
Something to remember the next time you hike, dive, or paddle into one of Wisconsin's national park areas.
