21 Jan 2010

Maybe you don't need an excuse to hike your favorite segment or explore a new segment of the Ice Age Trail, but here's one anyway. The IATA is going to be updating the Ice Age Trail Companion Guide for a 2011 edition, and we could use your help as a field editor!

 

What you do as a Field Editor: Travel to an area of Ice Age Trail and check that Trail and trailhead descriptions listed in the current Companion Guide are still accurate. Update town information and verify Trail access descriptions for car and foot travelers. (Take a look at this excerpt if you’re not familiar with the format.)

 

You’ll be given an editing packet with guidelines, text copies of the Trail section to work from and maps. Expectations are that you’ll hike your segment and submit your revisions and updates by September 1st, 2010.

 

The Companion Guide is a valuable tool for day-, section- and thru-hikers of the Ice Age Trail. It contains Trail descriptions, GPS waypoints and information on Trail access, area communities and IATA volunteer chapters. 

 

This is a great opportunity to explore an area of the Ice Age Trail and get to know the community around it. Segments of all lengths are available...helping out by covering a one-mile segment is just as valuable as a ten-mile segment.

 

If interested or for more information contact volunteer Sharon Dziengel (sharondziengel(at)yahoo.com, 262-271-0703) by April 1st, 2010. We hope to see you in the "field"!

18 Jan 2010

Calling all Ice Age Trail supporters! In case you haven’t yet heard, we’ve set a goal to increase our membership to five thousand by the end of this year. We already have nearly three thousand wonderful individual members, and we know we can make the Ice Age Trail even better by recruiting more.

 

So we’re asking you to inspire others to become members of the Ice Age Trail Alliance. Try inviting a friend out hiking, snowshoeing or skiing on the Trail. Give a gift membership. Include a call to action in your email signature, such as:

 

Please consider joining me in support of the Ice Age Trail Alliance. Visit www.iceagetrail.org to join today!

 

You could even host a group of friends for a hike, a dinner, or a volunteer day, with the goal of introducing them to the Ice Age Trail. The possibilities are endless. Consider renewing or increasing your support this year, or become a member if you’re not already.

 

Finally, we want to thank all of our members who have already recruited a new member (or several!). We couldn’t reach the goals we’ve set without you.

15 Jan 2010

IATA Mobile Skills Crew Winter Rendezvous

Saturday and Sunday, February 6th and 7th, 2010
Central Wisconsin Environmental Station (CWES)

Amherst Junction (Portage County, central WI)

 

The Winter Rendezvous will bring together hard-working Ice Age Trail volunteers and anyone else interested in the Ice Age National Scenic Trail for a weekend of socializing and outdoor fun. On Saturday, there’s hiking, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing to be had on the CWES trails and nearby on the Ice Age Trail. On Sunday, we'll switch to some business. From 8:30 to 11:30 we will preview the draft 2010-2013 Mobile Skills Crew Strategic Plan and solicit input. Lunch will be provided after the meeting.

 

The Ice Age Trail Alliance’s Mobile Skills Crew program coordinates a half-dozen statewide Ice Age Trail events per season (May-October). Each MSC event features a heavy dose of trail building or rehab, volunteer education and fun! 

 

More info on the Rendezvous is available on the MSC calendar. To help us plan for your needs, please pre-register by Friday, January 22nd, 2010.

Hope to see you there!

04 Jan 2010

Nominations for several of the Ice Age Trail Alliance's prestigious awards are being accepted through January 31st, 2010. The awards are:

- Ray Zillmer Award
- Henry S. Reuss Award
- Public Partner Award

Visit our Volunteer Spotlight page for more info on the awards and a list of past winners. If you would like to make a nomination, please download, complete and submit a nomination form.

We're also in the process of gathering nominations for our In the Mud, Years of Service and Spirit Stick awards, though nomination processes vary. Please contact the IATA (800-227-0046, info@iceagetrail.org) for more info on making a nomination for one of these awards.

01 Dec 2009

We're proud to say that the Ice Age National Scenic Trail is named as a "Life List" hike in the Readers' Choice Awards section of the January 2010 issue of Backpacker Magazine. 

If you haven't added the Ice Age Trail to your life list yet, visit our FAQs page or our Photo Gallery for some inspiration, or head to our Hiking Info page to find out where you can hit the Trail!

31 Aug 2009

 

Nothing captures the imagination quite like the thought of hiking the entirety of a long-distance path like the Ice Age Trail. One could argue that the idea of the Ice Age Trail as a single, unified path thrives because of those who seek the challenge of covering every mile of it.

 

To read all about the latest group of individuals to accept the challenge and meet the goal, visit http://www.iceagetrail.org/hikingprograms.htm and take a look at our 2009 Thousand-Miler Tribute document. It features information on our Thousand-Miler program plus the stories of 10 people who recently completed hiking the entire Ice Age Trail.

13 Apr 2009

Along Wisconsin's Ice Age Trail, a beautiful coffee-table book featuring more than 100 stunning Ice Age Trail photos and a suite of interesting essays on various Trail topics, is now available to Ice Age Trail Alliance members at 20% off the normal price.

The book is published by UW Press and available through their product page for the book. Simply enter a promo code of ICEAGE to receive your discount.

09 Jan 2009

Over the past year, Wisconsin Public Television's "In Wisconsin" program has aired several informative and entertaining features on the Ice Age Trail. You can take a look at these videos via the "In Wisconsin" web page: http://wpt2.org/npa/IATIW.cfm.

If you're thinking about volunteering, there's also a very nice video about one of our recent volunteer projects on MSN. Click here to check it out. (Note...there's a bit of an introduction prior to the Ice Age Trail content, but it comes eventually.)