Ice Age Trail segment passes ancient mound

Top of Rattlesnake Mound in winter.

Topo map of Ice Age National Scenic Trail - Rattlesnake
Mound segment. Click for larger version.

Day hikers can head through the remnants of several ice age features on a segment of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail near Wisconsin’s Rattlesnake Mound.

The 2.6-miles round trip hike crosses along the bottom of what used to be a glacial lake and between two sandstone buttes that were islands in the vast waterbody. This segment sits on the western bifurcation of the roughly 1200-mile Ice Age Trail.

To reach the trailhead, from Adams-Friendship drive south on Wis. Hwy. 13. Turn right/west onto Edgewood Drive. At 14th Court, turn left/south. In about 0.15 miles is a parking lot on the road’s right/west side. Once parked, head east on the lot’s entrance lane back to the road.

This section of the Ice Age Trail is 14th Court. While a road may not seem like an ideal trail, there’s plenty of shoulder to walk on, and this stretch of the county is fairly peaceful and quiet, so traffic won’t be a concern. Head left/north on the road.

Upon passing Edgewood Drive, Rattlesnake Mound will loom to the northeast. The mound actually is two hills with a saddle. The southern hill – the one closest to Edgewood Drive – tops out at 1191 feet, a full 270 feet above the road. The northern hill on the other side of the saddle is slightly higher at 1198 feet.

While some of Rattlesnake Mound sits in the Quincy Bluff and Wetlands State Natural Area, most of it is on private land. The top of the southern hill sits in the state natural area, but there are no formally marked paths leading to it.

During the last ice age, the advancing Green Bay lobe glacier cut off the Wisconsin River’s outlet to the sea, and water backed up to form Glacial Lake Wisconsin. For 4000 years, sediment deposited at the lake’s bottom until a weak moraine broke, allowing the lake to drain in a torrent of floodwater.

Rattlesnake Mound and Quincy Bluff, to the west, stood out as islands in this cold lake. Both are made of sandstone set down a half-billion years ago when meandering rivers created a braided pattern here as flowing to the sea.

At about 0.6 miles, the trail curves northeast as it parallels the southern hill. Then at 1 mile, an intersecting road heads east over the saddle. While the road is public, the adjacent land on the mound isn’t, so continue straight north on 14th Court.

About 1.3 miles in, the trail crosses the base of the northern mound and gains some minor elevation.

The intersection with Dyke Drive marks a good place to turn back.

Trail goes to top of Wisconsin’s Lone Rock

The vista from Lone Rock's northern side.

Lone Rock Trail topo map, Plate 1.

Lone Rock Trail topo map, Plate 2.

Day hikers can head to the top of what once was an island in a vast glacial lake.

The 6.2-miles round trip Lone Rock Trail heads to its namesake in Wisconsin’s Quincy Bluff and Wetlands State Natural Area. Surprisingly quiet, the trail offers that strong feel of isolation so many nature lovers seek.

To reach the trailhead, from Adams-Friendship, take Wis. Hwy. 13 south. Turn right/west onto Dyke Road (County Road E goes the opposite direction at the same intersection). In just under two miles, Dyke Road curves north and becomes 14th Drive. About a third of a mile from the curve is a small sand parking area on the road’s left/west side.

A wide two-track logging trail heads southwest from the lot. To the road’s west is a pine-oak barrens, a sandy terrain that mainly sports grass and sparse growths of trees while to the east is a woodlands. Once past a gate, go left/southwest when the trail splits.

The trail heads along narrow stretches of dry land amid wetlands. During warmer months, sandhill cranes often can be spotted and heard bugling there.

Glacial Lake Wisconsin
The barrens and wetlands sit on what during the last ice age was the bottom of Glacial Lake Wisconsin. Stretching from modern-day Wisconsin Rapids in the north to Wisconsin Dells in the south, the lake formed when an advancing glacier reached the Baraboo Hills to the south, damming the Wisconsin River. The water backed up until reaching a gap so that it could drain out to the Black River to the northeast.

When the glacier melted away from the Baraboo Hills, the ice dam holding the glacial lake thinned until only a sandy moraine and weak, ancient sandstone held the the water in place. Eventually that barrier broke, and the floodwaters swept southward, carving out the Wisconsin Dells’ deep gorges.

At 1.6 miles from the trailhead, the route follows a snowmobile trail south. The quality of the trail changes from an old road to more of a winding lane. In 0.2 miles is a wood bridge over a creek, and then the trail goes under a powerline.

Thanks to the glacial lake, most of the terrain along the trail and across Adams County is flat and sandy. At spots, the lake left up to 300 feet of sediment. The region’s many bluffs were islands in the glacial lake, and without its sediment, one might imagine the bluffs rising even higher out of the plain than they do today.

About 2.5 miles in, the northern tip of Lone Rock becomes visible over the tree line. Lone Rock rises 100 feet above the plain, and large raptors often can be seen riding the thermals around it. On the ground, the barrens gives away to woods as the trees thicken near Lone Rock’s base.

The trail splits in another 0.3 miles. Go right/south so that you are walking along Lone Rock’s western slope. A pine plantation is on the trail’s right side.

At 3 miles in, you’ll reach a T-intersection with a dirt road that is southwest of Lone Rock’s south side. Follow the lane running left/northeast up a slope through an oak forest to Lone Rock. Once at the base, go right/southeast for 200 feet to a 30-foot-wide break in the wall, which despite its size is easy-to-miss.

This canyon leads to Lone Rock’s top. While steep with a couple of high steps, during dry weather it’s the best and easiest route to the top, as pine needles cushion your steps. Be aware that in wet weather the pine needles can be slick.

Great vistas
The top of Lone Rock is more like a mesa of the American West, flat and round. A worn footpath circles the top. Be careful; the drop is straight down, and in some spots, such as the north end’s narrow point where sandstone juts out, are unsafe to walk upon.

Cooler than the barrens and breezy, the top offers great views. Rattlesnake Mound dominates the east while Quincy Bluff is to the west. From the north side, Roche a Cri and Friendship Mound are on the horizon.

Once taking in the view, descend the bluff’s canyon and retrace your steps back to the trailhead.

The trail is best hiked in spring and early summer on dry days. By mid- to late-summer, the trail can be overgrown, and in winter snow and ice often makes the route to the bluff’s saddle impassable. Autumn marks another great time to hike the bluff, as the bugs are gone and the grass a golden hue.

Much of the barrens lacks shade, so be sure to don sunscreen, sunhat and sunglasses on the trail. Insect repellent also is a must given the trail’s proximity to the wetlands. Pets are allowed if on a leash, however. Rock climbing is prohibited. As a state natural area, there are no public facilities.

Trail goes to top of half-billion-year-old rock

Quincy Bluff rises more than 200 feet above a sand plain in Wisconsin.

The Quincy Bluff Trail follows an old logging road.

Day hikers can walk to the top of a bluff that a half-billion years ago sat at the bottom of an ancient river.

The unmarked Quincy Bluff Trail heads to its namesake at Wisconsin’s Quincy Bluff and Wetlands State Natural Area. Reaching the other side of a saddle in the bluff comes to about 1.9 miles round trip, but the hike easily can be extended given the unmarked dirt trails at the top.

To reach the trailhead, from Adams-Friendship, take Wis. Hwy. 13 south. Turn right/west onto County Road H. After crossing White Creek, go right/north onto 16th Avenue then left/west onto Evergreen Avenue. Next, turn right/north onto 16th Drive. About a third of a mile north of Elk Avenue is a parking lot on the road’s right/east side.

Look east. Quincy Bluff rises 200 feet high and extends for approximately two miles north-south. From the parking lot’s northeast corner, follow the dirt trail east for about 400 feet. Once you reach an old logging trail, go right/south.

Located in Wisconsin’s Central Sands region – made famous by Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac – the state natural area is quite unique. This is the northernmost range of the state’s oak barrens and the southernmost range of its pine barrens, so the two mix here.

Making their home in this unusual amalgam are coyotes, bear, wolf, white-tailed deer, fisher, otter, bobcat, jumping mouse, and even slender glass lizards, which look like a snake but is a legless lizard. Frogs and muskrats can be found in the wetlands near the bluff.

Passenger pigeon paradise
The state natural area is a well-recognized birding area. Golden eagles, sandhill cranes and ducks live here from spring through autumn while pileated woodpeckers, blue jay, chickadees stay year-round. Each fall, sandhill cranes roost in large numbers across the natural area’s fields.

Unfortunately, the one bird that once nested here by the millions is gone. In 1871, more than 100,000 people descended upon Quincy Bluff, killing millions of passenger pigeons in what is among the worse slaughters ever recorded of the now extinct species.

About 0.4 miles from the parking lot, the logging trail climbs Quincy Bluff and then heads straight south along a cliffside. The bluff is made of Cambrian sandstone, laid down a little more than 500 million years ago when rivers wandered across a plain. The sandstone once covered all of what we now call the Central Sands region but over the eons has eroded away except for isolated rock formations such as Quincy Bluff.

Waves from an ice age-era lake and since then wind have weathered the bluffs into the steep, castellated formations seen today.

Bluff top views
Around 0.75 miles in, the logging road crosses a saddle in the bluff. Northern dry forest and open cliff ecosystems cover the bluff, allowing for pretty views framed by woodlands. From the saddle and all along the bluff, great views abound; a vast wetlands stretches to the east, while the Wisconsin River flowing through Castle Rock Lake can be seen to the west.

The trail is best hiked in spring and early summer on dry days. By mid- to late-summer, the trail can be overgrown, and in winter snow and ice often makes the route to the bluff’s saddle impassable. Autumn marks another great time to hike the bluff, as the bugs are gone and the grass a golden hue.

Be forewarned: As a state natural area, there are no public facilities. Pets are allowed if on a leash, however. Rock climbing is prohibited.