Ice Age Trail Alliance
Chippewa Moraine Chapter
Ice Age Trail Dispatch
April 2011
In This Edition:
First Hike of the Year!
Premier of Ice Age Trail TV Program
Trail Improvement Days - Saturday April 16 and Friday, May 6
First "Sunday Hike" of the Season - Sunday, April 3
Our first "Sunday Hike" of the season is planned for this coming Sunday, April 3. We meet at 1 PM at the Chippewa Moraine Visitor Center. This popular series of informal hikes occurs roughly each month during the hiking season on the first Sunday of the month.
This year the April hike will likely take on a new flavor: the odds are good that we'll do it on snowshoes! If you have them, bring them along; if not, there are snowshoes you can borrow at the Visitor Center (just come a little early to get all set up). Be sure you have good water resistant hiking boots. We'll take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves and the interests, energy, and experience of the hikers.
If you are thinking the snow might be gone by then, it's not too likely. It has a way of hanging on in the shadows of the hills and trees of the Chippewa Moraine.
JoAnn Parks will be our lead hiker for the afternoon.
Premier of Discover Wisconsin TV Program on the Ice Age Trail in Northwestern Wisconsin
The Ice Age Trail Alliance, along with Chippewa County Tourism Council, our chapter, Rice Lake, and St. Croix Falls, have sponsored a half hour Discover Wisconsin TV episode showcasing the Ice Age Trail in western Wisconsin. The episode will air live on TV stations around the midwest on the weekend of April 9, but we'll screen a premier showing at the Micon Cinema in Chippewa Falls on Wednesday, April 6 at 5:30 PM.
Discover Wisconsin produces weekly programs about tourist destinations around Wisconsin that show on midwestern TV stations. They also air short radio features about the show topics, and compliment the show with a web site giving detailed information about facilities available in the featured area. The web site also includes video of segments from the TV show.
The event will include refreshments from 5:30 to 6, with the showing at 6 PM after a few introductory remarks. There's no charge for the show.
All Ice Age Trail Alliance members and supporters are invited and especially welcome at the showing. However, the hosts need to know that you are coming! If you'd like to come to the showing, please contact the chapter with an email.
Trail Improvement Day - Saturday, April 16
Our first trail improvement day of the season will be on Saturday, April 16, and we'd love to have you join us. We expect to be joined by volunteers from Delta Sigma Phi fraternity at UWEC, so it will be an interesting day! It should be lots of fun working together with this energetic young group and sharing our trail maintenance skills and love of the trail with them.
To meet the needs of the students, we'd like to start earlier than usual this time, so please be ready to start at 8:30 AM. The students want to work a long day, but if you need to leave at mid day or mid afternoon, that's fine. Just be sure to let us know how long you can stay. We really need to know you're coming in advance, so if you can join us for all or part of the day, please email the chapter.
Bring along water and a lunch, and work gloves and appropriate work boots (water-resistant as it will probably be wet in places).
Because of the large group of inexperienced volunteers and the need to get the trail in shape for the 50K Trail Run, we hope you can join us for this "spring cleanup" day.
Chippewa Moraine 50 Trail Run
There will be a lot of activity at the Chippewa Moraine on Saturday, April 23, for the annual 50K and 10K trail run. This event, which is organized by the trail running community, brings over 125 runners to the Chippewa Moraine with their families each year.
If you would like to help provide refreshments at one of the rest stops, email the chapter.
A Special Trail Improvement Day Planned - Friday, May 6
We will host a large group of students from the Cameron Middle School on Friday, May 6. They're coming to do trail work as part of their school-wide community service day. The students will be 7th and 8th graders, and we plan to put them to work cleaning up a couple of sections of the trail that day. They'll be supervised, but we'll need a good crew of experienced volunteers to guide them in the tasks we need them to do and insure that they work safely as well as have a good experience and learn about the trail.
We need to be prepared to start at 9:30 when they arrive at the Visitor Center. They'll leave at about 2. If you can help, please email the chapter.
Read This Newsletter In Your Browser
Where To Find Information
Here's where to look for IAT and IATA information:
IATA Information: http://iceagetrail.org/home
Chippewa Moraine Chapter Information: www.iatchippewa.org AND http://chippewamoraine.iceagetrail.org/home AND www.twitter.com/iatachippewa (subscribe!)
Calendar of Chapter and Alliance Events: http://chippewamoraine.iceagetrail.org/chapter-events
Chippewa Mammoth Trackers (informal hike announcements): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MammothTracker
Hiking the trail: www.iceagetrail.org (check the options under the "Hike the IAT" tab). For Chippewa County: http://chippewamoraine.iceagetrail.org/hike-the-chapter
National Park Service Information about the Ice Age Trail: www.nps.gov/iatr/index.htm
See you on the trail,
Richard Smith
Chippewa Moraine Chapter Chair
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The Ice Age Trail
A Walk Through Time