Superior Lobe Chapter

BARRON & WASHBURN COUNTIES
The Ice Age Trail route in Barron and Washburn counties winds through three distinct landscapes. On the east are the Blue Hills, a 1.6 billion-year-old quartzite range. On the west and north is an end moraine, lake-studded zone dominated by steep kettle topography. Between these two lay an outwash plain created by meltwater from two glacial lobes: the Chippewa and Superior lobes.

A segment of the Trail between the communities of Birchwood and Haugen is currently shared with a rail-trail across the outwash plain. Haugen sits atop an end moraine. West of there, the Trail passes a number of lakes, through hummocky topography and deep Northwoods forest.