Photo Credit: D. Caliebe – morning mist rising on Wood Lake
July is a month of celebrations. Picture puttering around the garden in the early hours of the day, or gathering with friends around a grill while enjoying the flicker of fireflies in the dusky hours of a long summer evening. On weekends, a great migration occurs as folks shuffle routines and voyage north to forests and picturesque lakes for peace of mind and adventure.
We hope you’ll join us for a mid-summer adventure of your own! Head North with us for our second Mobile Skills Crew project in Taylor County this year and fifth in the last 15 months; we’re tackling a whole lot of lumber, rock, and dirt across 50 miles of Taylor County.
“Taylor County is an amazing landscape for hiking – especially around Gus Johnson Creek. Glacial waters ripped through the land to form the steep-sided valley the Creek now flows through. It’s a beautiful area hosting a small white pine and hemlock relict,” states Dave Caliebe, Ice Age Trail Alliance’s Trail Program Specialist. “We’re reopening the Trail around Gus Johnson Creek, and significantly improving the Trail around Wood Lake and in the Chequamegon. We’re covering a lot of ground.”
Photo Credit: A. Neve – Wood Lake Segment, Wood Creek
What We’ll Be Doing:
We will be operating not one but two base camps from which we’ll make major improvements to the Ice Age National Scenic Trail. However, the primary base camp is at Wood Lake County Recreation Area, with a small, satellite crew at Kathryn Lake.
Volunteers will base camp at Wood Lake County Park, near the Village of Rib Lake. Beginning Tuesday morning, July 26th through Sunday morning July 31st, work will take place across a 15-mile area, from the Rusch Preserve at CTH C, east to Gus Johnson Creek and Wood Lake. Projects will include constructing a 24’ long bridge; building 300’ of elevated boardwalk, fabricating rock retaining walls, and creating a ½ mile trail reroute off Bear Avenue, near Gus Johnson Creek. Previous boardwalk building experience will be appreciated and not required.
We’re looking for approximately 8 people with boardwalk skills, preferred, to form a satellite crew (Sunday night through Thursday morning) who will base camp at Kathryn Lake, near Perkinstown, where we’ll replace an aging 154’ long boardwalk through a wet swamp located ¼-mile north of CTH M in the Chequamegon National Forest. There will be easy access to the worksite. Muck boots are required, hip waders may not be a bad idea. This effort begins Monday morning, July 25th and wraps up Thursday, July 28th. Volunteers interested in this concurrent project should contact Brad Crary via email at Brad@iceagetrail.org.
As with all Mobile Skills Crew events, no experience is necessary and there’s a role for volunteers of all ages and abilities…bring the whole family! Most days start at 8:00 a.m. and end at 4:00 p.m. Your contribution is welcome for any amount of time you can give.
Training is provided by certified volunteer crew leaders, and all participants get free meals and (for those working with us for multiple days) a free place to pitch a tent.
In the field, radio and cell phone communication will be limited or not available.
Trailbuilding Event: Lake Eleven, Rib Lake, and Wood Lake Segments
Tuesday, July 26 – Sunday, July 31, 2016
Taylor County (north-central Wisconsin)
Trailbuilding Event (running concurrently): Kathryn Lake near Perkinstown
Monday, July 25 – Thursday, July 28, 2016
Taylor County (north-central Wisconsin)
Looking forward to a fun, satisfying week in the woods!
THANK YOU…for all you do for the Ice Age National Scenic Trail.
Photo Credit: D. Caliebe – sunrise on Wood Lake