A team from Backpacker spent three September days hiking a 25-mile stretch of Wisconsin's Ice Age Trail, from Jerry Lake to Mondeaux Flowage, and their field notes make a strong case that the Midwest's most underrated long trail deserves a spot on your list.
The trail itself is a geological storybook. Wisconsin was ground zero for the last glacial period — so well preserved that glaciologists treat the state as a global textbook example of it. Hikers follow eskers, the long ridges left behind by glaciers, cross moraines, and skirt a string of glacial lakes. The state also holds more than 15,000 lakes and over 460,000 acres of state parks and natural areas, so the water views come thick and fast.
The practical appeal is the terrain. This is a mostly flat trail with rolling hills rather than big climbs, which makes it genuinely approachable for beginners — easy to tick off in manageable chunks. It's not boring, though: rocks and roots keep your attention, and the woods are alive with frogs, snakes, foxes, deer and plenty of birdlife. For experienced walkers chasing miles, the esker stretches and dense birch and oak forest create a steady rhythm — and in September the autumn colour is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
Two things to know before you go. First, expect some road walking; the trail isn't continuous wilderness the whole way. Second, the payoff isn't summit views a la Colorado or Wyoming — the reward is emerging from deep woods onto unexpectedly beautiful lakes, including spots right where you'll pitch your tent. There are boardwalk sections too, a hint that the trail gets wet in wetter seasons, so filter water whenever the chance appears. The editors noted they hadn't crossed many streams on their stretch, making reliable fill points worth taking seriously.
The section they walked sits in and around national forest land, but it's a different vibe from the mountain west — birch, oak, thick undergrowth and quiet lakes rather than ridgelines and granite. It's a “stunning in a truly Wisconsin kind of way” trip, which is exactly the point: this is long-distance hiking you don't need mountaineering legs for.
Why it matters: if you've written off the Midwest for backpacking, this is the counter-argument. The Ice Age Trail works for first-timers doing an overnight, families building up confidence, and seasoned hikers looking for a relaxed multi-day with real wildlife and lake camping — all without the permit scrambles of the bigger-name trails.
