Hello,
My name is David Miller. I am a 24 year old Wisconsinite and have recently embarked upon the beginnings of what I hope to be a 1000 mile expedition of the Ice Age Trail in its entirety. I’ve found such joy in the endeavor and no words do justice to how incredible the trail is. The attached photograph was from earlier today as I hiked the 5.5 mile Scuppernong Segment. In view of the recent troubling COVID pandemic and the associated quarantine, I feel that a ray of positive light is needed in our society these days. So, I just want to express my gratitude to the Ice Age Trail Alliance and all the countless volunteers who’ve built this incredible conduit across our beautiful state. I look forward to volunteering in the future from my residence in the Sheboygan area. In my first 30+ miles in Waukesha and Jefferson County, I’ve taken to writing about my experiences on the trail. So, I’ve written a poem to commemorate my thoughts and reflections. It is part of a larger poem book on the topic of nature. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for all you do!
Where The Mammoth Once Roamed
I walk on a path where the glaciers once scraped
Across a vast land the Driftless Area escaped
Where tales of the Ice Age and cavemen awake
And mighty foot falls may shudder and shake
The ground which is littered with granite erratics
Steeply carved eskers that rise so dramatic
Depositing sand in drumlins and kames
That we have hence given a bevy of names
A proud winding footpath departs civilization
Though now and again crosses a railroad station
It embodies the spirit of wisdom and wild
Showing joy can be found in time lengthy exiled
Through the middle of nowhere, it runs off the grid
Where all best kept secrets are humbly hid
Just stay on the path, for you may yet find them
On a meandering creek of a trail that does bind them
Along fields filled with mullein and bright goldenrod
Brooks filled with brown trout, not Icelandic cod
Deep in the water, deep in the drink
We ponder existence, in reflection we think
About who we are and who we might be
If we extricate our souls from what weighs down heavy
To hike is to live, so therapeutic
From across the Heartland or even to Munich
So I’ll declare here, if only once
Lest ye call me a fool, a clown or a dunce
I am for hiking and hiking’s for me
For I feel most at home in the hole of a tree
We should not abandon from whence we were made
And nature’s abundance we’d best never trade
For the vices of man, the filth of the city
That sullies the land and pollutes, such a pity
But I digress to strap on my boots
Clad only in plaid and camo, not suits
I sling on my backpack and ask what’s the matter
Oh shucks, I’ve forgotten my hydration bladder!
But it’s nary a worry for a bottle will due
To quench my mad thirst with a liquid so true
So pure and so fair, so clean is the air
As I stride out again so keenly aware
Of the beauty and peace that does permeate
A wildland made of love, not greed and not hate
I’ve seen rocky vales, untold scenery
And through it all the most luscious of greenery
As I walk through the woods between Earthen realms
From Wisconsinite plains to thick groves of elms
Across grassy fens and rivers that foamed
1000 long miles where the mammoth once roamed
-David Miller on April 16th, 2020