Tag Archives: Reconnect

Volunteers Braved Winter in Wisconsin to Help with Land Restoration

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Volunteers smile and wave at the camera during lunch.
Volunteers smile and wave during the Steenbock Preserve HIP event. Photo by Bob Leedle.
More than 130 volunteers braved winter in Wisconsin—the frigid temperatures, icy terrain, and blustery wind—and volunteered at one (or multiple) of the Alliance’s Habitat Improvement Program (HIP) events.

Winter is the ideal time for controlling woody invasives. Snow cover offers relatively safe conditions for burning brush piles, and the cold temps prevent folks from overheating.

The goals of the HIP events include:

  • Enhancing hikers’ experiences along the Ice Age Trail.
  • Advancing the process of restoring native habitats by removing invasive species.
  • Creating space for a variety of native plant species and wildlife to use these habitats.

We couldn’t preserve, restore, and maintain the land’s beauty without the help of so many dedicated volunteers.

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Volunteers Braved Cold, Wind, and Ice to Help Make the Ice Age Trail More Scenic

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Volunteers of all ages bundled up and came out to help with habitat management events along the Ice Age Trail. Photo by Justine Kapitzke.
Volunteers of all ages bundled up and came out to help with habitat management events along the Ice Age Trail. Photo by Justine Kapitzke.
Volunteers braved classic Wisconsin winter conditions – frigid temperatures, icy terrain, and steady wind – during the Alliance’s habitat management events in recent weeks.

Winter is an excellent time for cutting and burning. Snow cover offers relatively safe burning of brush piles, and the cold temps prevent sawyers from overheating.

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2021: A Successful Trailbuilding & Stewardship Season!

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One of our skilled sawyer Mobile Skills Crew volunteers, Anne Helsley-Marchbanks. Photo by Dave Caliebe.
One of our skilled sawyer Mobile Skills Crew volunteers, Anne Helsley-Marchbanks. Photo by Dave Caliebe.
After months of uncertainty, the familiar smiles of volunteers returned in a big way as 2021 progressed. Small events at the beginning of the year built toward the return of our large-scale projects. Despite shifting circumstances, trust quickly emerged as the season theme. Trust the plan. Trust Crew Leaders to lead. Trust volunteers to work carefully. Trust the skills, dedication, and passion of everyone who showed up to an event. As a result, we greeted August with a rousing return to near normalcy – hosting almost 100 volunteers and spanning two segments – that added three new miles of Trail in Dane County. A few months later, the ribbon (and cake) was cut on the newly minted Ringle Segment, an achievement worthy of a year filled with smiles.

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After Five Years, the Reimagined Ringle Segment is Complete

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Granite boulders are a common sight along the reimagined Ringle Segment. Photo by Dave Caliebe.
Granite boulders are a common sight along the reimagined Ringle Segment. Photo by Dave Caliebe.
Saying thank you feels insufficient compared to the accomplishment’s scale: opening the seven-mile section of the reimaginged Ringle Segment. Hewn from rocky ground, every hour you invested in this five-year project forged a world-class section of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail.

Right in our backyard, your selfless dedication created a lasting legacy. We spend our lives working toward achievements in which we take pride. If we’re fortunate, we may create something that lives beyond us. In this case, a signature segment contributing to the health and happiness of people we may never meet.

Be proud of the work you’ve done and what you’ve helped accomplish.

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Closed out Trailbuilding Season with Major Upgrades to Three Segments!

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Volunteers prove that moving boardwalk is a group effort. Photo by Dave Caliebe.
Volunteers prove that moving boardwalk is a group effort. Photo by Dave Caliebe.
At the confluence of great weather and great volunteers is a great project. In the case of this year’s Wildcard event, three projects on three segments.

Calls of “Coming through!” rang out as hikers passed through the work area. The heavy hiker traffic caused frequent but not unwelcome interruptions. “Holy sh*t!” one hiker exclaimed. “I was here a couple of days ago, and this wasn’t here.”

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New Section of Waterville Segment Replaces Busy Road Walk!

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Newly constructed boardwalk on the Waterville Segment. Photo by Patrick Gleissner.
Newly constructed boardwalk on the Waterville Segment. Photo by Patrick Gleissner.
2020 reawakened a love of the outdoors in many Wisconsinites. A perfect distillation of this excitement came from our Waterville Gap Campaign to help get the Trail off of a dangerous road walk in Waukesha County. The call to action went out in July of 2020, and by September we had exceeded our fundraising goal. In an astonishing show of grassroots philanthropy, the project was funded and purchased in under five months, and the new Trail opened in just over a year.

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The Reimagined Ringle Segment is almost a Reality!

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The reimagined Ringle Segment will wind its way on fresh tread and over boardwalk through mossy and hummocky terrain. Photo by Lisa Krueger.
The reimagined Ringle Segment will wind its way on fresh tread and over boardwalk through mossy and hummocky terrain. Photo by Lisa Krueger.
The less-than-stellar weather, coupled with a record hatch of mosquitos, attempted to slow down the 78 dedicated volunteers at the Ringle Trailbuilding event. Over four and a half days, and through rain, mud, and clouds of bug spray, volunteers contributed 1,972 hours to open a beautiful new half-mile section of Trail. Volunteers cut and hauled lumber, built bridges, constructed rock walls, drafted blazes, crafted tread and slung rotten granite through the air via a highline to more easily – and safely – create a hardened walking surface through a moss-covered boulder field.

The stage is set, and with October rapidly approaching, we await the final act in the Reimagining of Ringle saga.

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Three New Miles of Trail in Dane County!

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Ice Age National Scenic Trail, Ice Age Trail, Mammoth's Back Preserve, Valley View Segment, Reconnect, Mobile Skills Crew Events 2021
A crew of swampers pile brush in an effort to clear the corridor for a new section of Ice Age Trail along the Cross Plains Segment. Photo by Dave Caliebe.
Despite the sweltering heat and violent weather, two new Ice Age National Scenic Trail sections are open after a five-day Mobile Skills Crew Reconnect event. The efforts of 86 volunteers, donating 1,852 service hours, created a new path through Mammoth’s Back Preserve and more off-road hiking along the Valley View Segment. Each section is a work in progress and will require continued restoration. But, it is hard to overstate the value of three newly opened miles of Ice Age Trail in Dane County.

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A New Bridge Spans Sailor Creek!

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Ice Age National Scenic Trail, Ice Age Trail Alliance, Sailor Creek Bridge, US Forest Service, Jerry Lake Segment
Volunteers cart soon-to-be repurposed deck boards to another location. Photo by Dave Caliebe.
Perfect weather, minimal bugs, and a fantastic crew, made for quick work as the bridge over Sailor Creek rose from the mud like a lotus. The squelching of boots through curmudgeonly swamp accompanied the din of hammers, saws, and drills, as 20 volunteers came together to complete the 178-foot-long Forest Service structure. In just over three days, the Jerry Lake Project totaled over 500 service hours! “Big Spider Bridge” will allow for the safe crossing of Sailor Creek for the next half century.

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Volunteers Ensure Successful 2020 Trailbuilding Season

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Ice Age Trail Alliance, Ice Age National Scenic Trail, Ringle Segment, Marathon County, Stone Steps, Trailbuilding, Volunteers
Volunteers spent 7,727 hours building and improving segments of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail this trailbuilding season, including these beautifully crafted stone steps on the Ringle Segment. Photo by Dave Caliebe.
In an especially trying year, we learned how valuable the work we perform is as countless people discovered adventure near home. Parking lots filled and overflowed. Quiet, little known segments awoke with the footsteps and chatter of newly initiated hikers.

In May, after an unsettling absence, volunteers reconnected with the Ice Age Trail. Your skills and efforts were needed – and appreciated – more than ever. With our productive start to the year in the rearview mirror, we regrouped and accomplished quite a bit – and did it safely. Thank you for everything you did this year, and in the previous decades, to create one of the Midwest’s best hiking trails.

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