The class numbered 109 hikers, hailing from 58 communities across Wisconsin, while 12 hikers came from other states: Illinois, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, and Vermont. Of this group, 96 section-hiked the Ice Age Trail, extending their adventure over several years. For example, one hiker began his journey on May 10, 2003, completing it 7,469 days later, on October 20, 2023.
Chicken Fat, named for the enormous amounts of fried chicken he ate while hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2014, caught up to Beauchamp on July 25. They walked 30 miles together and camped in the Dispersed Camping Area along the Table Bluff Segment. They were talking and laughing like long-time friends when they reached the Ice Age Trail Alliance headquarters.
That’s at least the reason Jake Braun decided to thru-hike.
“Planning for a thru-hike of the Ice Age Trail kept me going,” she says. It was what she thought about when she was really sick.
