8/9/2009 11:07:00 AM Volunteers hoping to finish a trail worth walking on They’re trying to get Ice Age Trail segment ‘certified’
David Lonsdorf shows one of the sticky spots that makes the Verona segment of the Ice Age Trail difficult to traverse for the casual walker. He is one of many volunteers who have been working on the 6.8-mile Verona segment to get it nationally certified.
David Lonsdorf looks over the Badger Mill Creek on the Verona segment of the Ice Age Trail.
How to help maintain the trail
Maintaining the Ice Age Trail is a labor of love for volunteers throughout the state. Members of the Dane County chapter of the Ice Age Trail Alliance have several work days scheduled in Verona this summer and are looking for locals to help out.
Volunteers will mostly be clearing brush, leveling footpaths or widening trails. They should wear old clothes, solid boots and bring water to drink.
The work dates are all on Saturdays and begin at 9 a.m. Volunteers usually log three or four hours, though they can stick around for more if they're willing.
Aug. 8 - Prairie Moraine County Park, 1970 County Hwy PB
Aug. 22 - Ceniti Park parking lot, 601 E. Verona Avenue
Sept. 5 - Ceniti Park
Sept. 12 - Ceniti Park
Sept. 19 - Prairie Moraine park
Two 7 p.m. hikes of the trail will also take place this month, starting at Ceniti Park. The first was set for Wednesday, Aug. 5, and the next is Aug. 19.
The Ice Age Trail is more than 10,000 years in the making, but for local volunteers, the next 12 months are crucial.
The 1,100-mile trail cuts an S-shape through Wisconsin and is one of just eight National Scenic Trails recognized by Congress. It includes a 6.8-mile segment that winds through Verona.
David Lonsdorf, a family physician who has lived in Verona for 25 years, is spearheading an effort by local volunteers to clean up the Verona segment and get it certified by the National Park Service by next spring.
To do that, the trail must be a certain width, well-marked and easily walkable.
If all goes well, he envisions hosting a 10K run along the trail, perhaps during next year's Hometown Days festival.
"We've got a lot of work to do, but we're getting there," said Lonsdorf, a member of the Dane County chapter of the statewide Ice Age Trail Alliance.
The local trail starts near County Highway PD and cuts south through Badger Prairie County Park, passes under East Verona Avenue and eventually terminates in Prairie Moraine County Park on County PB south of the city.
Along the way, the path winds over grassy hills, cuts through wetlands, follows Badger Mill Creek and offers some surprisingly good hiking that feels remote even when it passes near homes and businesses.
But the path also needs work. Just south of East Verona Avenue, for example, an expanding wetland leaves the trail soggy in places, and heavy rains can create large puddles of standing water. Brush and weeds are overtaking other areas. And volunteers want to reroute a segment behind the city dump along County M near Locust Drive.
Lonsdorf said volunteers this summer and fall are needed to clear brush and widen the path and to build puncheons, or boardwalks, over wet areas. Several work dates are scheduled this month and in September.
"We tell people to come with gloves, boots and dirty clothes," he said. "Bring a bottle of water and be ready to be tired by the end."
Already, a lot of work is done. On July 12, for example, volunteers erected new signposts near Ceniti Park marked with the Ice Age Trail's official yellow "blaze," or reflective strip. (Other national routes are assigned different colors, such as white for the 2,175-mile long Appalachian Trail and blue for the roughly 4,400-mile North Country Trail.)
A couple weeks ago, the city Parks department spread two truckloads of loose, recycled asphalt across wet segments of trail south of Ceniti Park. And last week, city crews installed new fencing and two gates along the trail near the Lincoln Street bridge, said Parks director Dave Walker.
Lonsdorf said about two-thirds of the Verona segment crosses county-owned land, and the remaining one-third is divided between city and privately-owned land.
The local trail has been around a couple decades, but not everyone knows about it, said Don Ferber, a Madison resident who has helped maintain regional segments of the trail for 20 years.
The trail is "really quite special," Ferber said, as it offers locals a chance to hike and explore an interesting part of our geological past without having to travel hundreds of miles to get there. He notes that the terminal moraine in Prairie Moraine County Park is one of the best examples of glacial geology around.
There's also a 200-acre restored prairie east of Reddan Soccer Park and a nice stretch of oak savanna and woodlands south of the city near County PB.
For many area residents, the trail is literally just beyond their backyards, he added. And efforts to improve the trail could be a big plus for Verona.
"I think it's an opportunity for both sides to turn it into a resource for the community to use and take pride in," he said.
Fast facts about the trail • The Ice Age Trail began as a dream of Milwaukee resident Ray Zillmer in the 1950s and was established as a National Scenic Trail by Congress in 1980.
• The route follows an S-curve through Wisconsin that spans 1,099.5 miles between Door County and the Wisconsin-Minnesota border. It follows the outline of Wisconsin's most recent glacier that retreated more than 10,000 years ago, leaving behind scenic landforms such as moraines, eskers, erratics, kettles, drumlins and dells.
• The trail includes 620 miles with signposts and 480 without. Breaking it down another way, 467 are "traditional" hiking trail miles, 103 are multi-use path miles and 529 are road and sidewalk miles.
• Approximately 60 percent of state residents live within 20 miles of the trail.
• The Trail passes through a patchwork of lands owned by the state Department of Natural Resources, the Ice Age Trail Alliance, county parks, local municipalities and private owners.
For information, including details about the Dane County portions of the trail, maps, volunteer opportunities and descriptions of each segment visit iceagetrail.org.
