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