Meister completes 1,200-mile Ice Age Trail across Wisconsin

When Gary Meister first hiked a segment of the Ice Age Trail in Lincoln County back in 2012, little did he know that 14 years later he would complete the National Scenic Trail across Wisconsin.

On Oct. 6 of this year, Meister reached the Eastern Terminus of the trail at Potawatomi State Park, officially completing his journey along Wisconsin’s 1,200-mile Ice Age Trail. What began as a goal many years ago became an incredible accomplishment for the now 83-year-old from Eagle River.

More than 12,000 years ago, a flow of glacial ice sculpted a landscape of beauty across Wisconsin. As the glacier retreated, it left behind a variety of unique landscape features. The Ice Age National Scenic Trail is a 1,200-mile footpath that highlights these landscape features as it travels through some of the state’s most beautiful natural areas. The trail is entirely within Wisconsin and is one of only 11 National Scenic Trails across the country.

Trail volunteer

Back in 2012, Meister was on the Council of the Northwoods Chapter of the Ice Age Trail and maintained a 2 1/2-mile section of trail in Lincoln County. Each county that the Ice Age Trail goes through has a “chapter" of volunteers. The trail's overall management is a partnership between the U.S. Park Service and the Ice Age Trail Alliance (IATA).

“A friend, who I met early on through that involvement, and I decided we should hike the length of the trail (67 miles) in Lincoln County,” said Meister. "I thought that being on the council, I should experience and see the entire length of trail that the council takes care of.  We started at the east end and hiked west. We started out meeting every Tuesday and hiked 6 to 10 miles.

"As life goes, our hikes soon weren't always on Tuesday or every week. We started in April, always starting where we left off the previous hike, and finished at the west end of Lincoln County in October,” he said.

Meister enjoyed the challenges they encountered that first year in Lincoln County.

"In my outdoor travels, I've always wanted to explore or see something different — a challenge and a bit of adventure. And that's what I found in that first year of hiking the Ice Age Trail,” said Meister. "As I noted in my journal of notes made after each hike, at the end of that first year, '...it seemed that every day we hiked was a little different, in weather, in terrain, in insects, but always very scenic, interesting and quite enjoyable.’ I recall deciding in the last few miles of that first year that I wanted to 'keep going’.”

Meister and his friend Greg Greswold eventually hiked through three counties (Lincoln, Taylor and Langlade) over three years. The rest of the Ice Age Trail journey was mostly on his own.

"My wife Laura (VanValkenberg), when she wasn't being my shuttle driver, hiked with me on a couple of occasions. We hiked together on the Dells of the Eau Claire Segment and again farther south through the Gibraltar Rock Segment. I hiked the rest of the trail solo,” he said.

Once Meister completed the three county segments in northcentral Wisconsin, he went back to western Taylor County and continued to the trail’s Western Terminus in Interstate State Park near St. Croix Falls. He then continued from where he left off at the southern end of Langlade County and continued to the trail’s Eastern Terminus at Potawatomi State Park near Sturgeon Bay.

The 700 miles of “yellow blaze” off-road trail has identified named segments, usually tied to a feature of the trail or area, such as the Grandfather Falls Segment or the Camp 27 Segment. The 500 miles of Connector Routes (CRs) — so called because they are trail routes on roadways connecting developed off-road trails — are not named and not marked.

"One thing I learned early in the first year is that, even though I was referred to as a ‘segment hiker,' I never focused on hiking a specific identified segment,” said Meister. "The day's hike was determined by logistics, available time, available shuttle driver, and trail access, not by segment boundaries. Considering the variables, I tried to plan hikes of 9 to 12 miles. I did a few longer and a few shorter hikes."

Favorite segments

Meister mostly hiked from March to the end of April, then in August, after Ride with Leinie and before SepTimber Ride, due to his involvement with Great Headwaters Trails Foundation.

"Depending on when we returned from our fall road camping trip, I would try to hike in October,” said Meister. "I preferred early spring and late summer into fall times because of fewer insects to deal with. Since I was segment hiking, I only carried a day pack and didn't camp right along the trail. Most of the time, I took our little teardrop camper and set up a 'base camp' at a state or county park campground. I only once stayed at a hotel, in Portage, for a two-day hike because it was early March and no nearby public campgrounds were open. I stayed at a friend's place in Middleton for a couple of days when I was hiking through the western Dane County segments.

"While most of the off-road trail segments are generally well marked with the well-known yellow blaze, the connecting routes aren't marked, so you have to follow the preferred route laid out on an available map,” said Meister. "Both off-road trails and connecting routes had difficult areas, sometimes made difficult by wading across a creek or climbing a trail through a rocky, steep bluff, or by adding in difficult weather, like a connecting route with no shade under a bright hot sun or during high wind and rain.”

Meister said it is difficult to pick a favorite section of the Ice Age Trail.

"But, to narrow it down, the segments in the region going west, including Lincoln, Chippewa and Barron counties, were, in general, more adventurous,” he said. “The Straight Lake Segment, the Dells of the Eau Claire Segment and Devils Lake Segment were quite nice.”

Meister said he met a few hikers along the trail, usually going in the opposite direction. However, all of those hikers were on the eastern length of the trail, from about Janesville north. Although he mostly hiked during the week when there were fewer hikers.

"I met more trail-related folks by using the 'Trail Angels’ — an IATA system for hikers to find a shuttle driver. Each chapter has volunteers who provide shuttle service so you don't have to hike both directions to get back to your car,” he explained. "It was always interesting talking about 'trail stuff’ while riding with them."

'Long Timer'

According to the Ice Age Trail Alliance, Meister is only the sixth person over age 80 to complete the trail. The alliance also notes there have been 728 total completions of the trail since 1979.

Meister said it is common to have a “trail name” when hiking the Ice Age Trail.

"I have read and heard from other hikers that you either choose your own trail name, or others will eventually choose one for you. Since I was taking a long time to hike the trail, it eventually became obvious that I was a 'Long Timer,' thus, my self-ascribed name has been 'Long Timer.’”

Meister, a retired AAA Wisconsin training director and human resource director, said he would recommend hiking the Ice Age Trail, or segments of it, to everyone.

"The trail follows the terminus of the last Ice Age Glacier lobes and highlights the resulting terrain. However, even though we pass these features all the time, without the descriptions from a guidebook while hiking the trail, we won't notice the eskers, drumlins, ice tunnels, etc.,” said Meister.

For those seriously considering hiking all or most of it, Meister said he would strongly recommend obtaining an Ice Age National Scenic Trail Atlas and Ice Age Trail Guidebook. The atlas is a binder with detailed maps and related information about the trail and the guidebook provides not only some map information but also details about the glacial formations, historical information about the area and specific sites along the way.

"So, there are many reasons to take a hike. Hiking a National Scenic Trail provides many more reasons to hike than just any trail hike,” he said. "Learning why it goes where it goes and what features are along the way can be part of the adventure. And the amazing thing is, there's a 1,200-mile National Scenic Trail right here in Wisconsin!"