ALGOMA - Outdoor and silent sports enthusiasts from all over soon will have more reason to visit this Kewaunee County city on the Lake Michigan shore, thanks to the Ice Age Trail Alliance.
The alliance announced this week it named Algoma an official Ice Age Trail Community and plans to open more than 3 new miles of blazed trail through the city that will be part of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail. A public celebration of the Trail Community designation will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 25 at the Algoma Boat Club, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Algoma segment, a guided hike on the newly blazed trail, the Steel Belly BBQ food truck, cake and ice cream.
Algoma becomes the 22nd community to earn official designation as an Ice Age Trail Community; Sturgeon Bay also is an official Trail Community. The program, which is run by the alliance, helps communities leverage the trail as an economic and social engine, said Amy Lord, outreach and education manager for the alliance.
“Commitment to this program represents agreement to build healthy and vibrant communities,” Lord said in a press release from the alliance. “It is a partnership between the alliance and Algoma to cross promote one another and support the community and Ice Age Trail users.”
“We’re excited to welcome Algoma as a Trail Community,” Lord added. “It’s such a friendly, welcoming city. Ice Age Trail hikers will love exploring all it has to offer."
The alliance promotes those communities on their website as a hiker-friendly community that "values the trail, understands its impact on the quality of life for its residents and visitors, and supports the work of the Ice Age Trail Alliance." It said in its press release a Trail Community helps bring visitors because the community often becomes a home base for hikers planning to take on the trail in the vicinity.
“After a long hike, they’ll discover a good restaurant or a nice place to stay," alliance CEO and executive director Luke Kloberdanz said. "They’ll have a great experience, think fondly of their visit, which leads to another visit in the future. We know trail supporters and volunteers will have a positive impact at the local level in Algoma.”
Kloberdanz also said in the press release that the Ice Age Trail is the only National Scenic Trail in the country that purposely runs trails through a community, which draws more hikers to the trail segments located in Trail Communities.
“Trail segments that go through communities are some of the most popular,” Kloberdanz said. “You get to see up close what makes that community unique. You get a real sense of Wisconsin.”
When opened, the three-plus new miles of trails in Algoma, which will be named the Algoma Segment, will join roughly 50 miles of Ice Age Trails in Kewaunee County, which includes completed, blazed segments and connecting routes between completed segments. One existing segment starts in Casco and follows the Ahnapee State Trail to Kewaunee, Algoma and on into Door County and Potawatomi State Park, where the eastern terminus of the statewide trail is located.
The Ice Age Trail is one of 11 National Scenic Trails in the country. It follows the outline of the most recent glacier that retreated from the state thousands of years ago, winding through 30 counties.
The entire route covers about 1,200 miles, with more than 700 miles of blazed and marked trail segments and more than 400 miles of suggested connecting routes to get from one segment to the next, although hikers can create their own connections. The mission of the alliance is to complete the entire route.
Its western terminus is in St. Croix Falls, from where it heads east to Antigo, then winds south to Janesville, then north-northeast through the Kettle Moraine area to Manitowoc, Mishicot and Tisch Mills. From there, the next segment starts in Casco and runs through Kewaunee County into Door County before ending at Potawatomi State Park.
The Ice Age Trail Alliance is a nonprofit, member- and volunteer-based organization which conserves, creates, maintains and promotes the Ice Age National Scenic Trail. For more information, visit iceagetrail.org.
Contact Christopher Clough at 920-562-8900 or cclough@gannett.com.
Most Popular
Comments / 0