This cache is one of 31 caches - part of the WGA IAT Series - hidden to highlight Wisconsin's Ice Age Trail. See the bookmark list for all of the geocaches included in this series!
The Sturgeon Bay segment is the eastern terminus of the Ice Age Trail. This segment offers hikers three widely varying experiences of the overall Ice Age Trail experience and is therefore a good place to wrap-up or start a thousand-mile journey on the trail. The segment starts with a rail-trail hike, transitions into an urban hike through a city with a rich cultural history, then finishes with a quiet forested trek through the Potowatami State Park where you will find this cache. One of the highlights of this segment is a set of rock steps in Niagara dolomite constructed by Ice Age Trail Alliance volunteers in 2002. You wil find a tower to climb near the large rock with plaque that marks the eastern terminus.
The Beginning Or The End? Sturgeon Bay and Potawatomi State Park mark either the beginning or the end of your journey, marking the eastern terminus of the Ice Age Trail. However, in Door and Kewaunee Counties, the National Ice Age Trail is congruent with the Ahnapee State Trail, the retired line of Ahnapee and Western Railroad. The railroad line moved freight and passengers in and out of Door County between 1894 and 1968, and was a vital link during World War II with Algoma’s plywood industry and Sturgeon Bay’s shipyards. Powered by either steam or diesel, the trains hauled lumber, dairy products, cherry crops and passengers in and out of Door County to Casco, where it met the Green Bay and Western Railroad to link up with the rest of the world. So, while the Ice Age Trail roughly follows the contours of the retreating glaciers of the last ice age, there’s plenty of more modern history, and stories to tell, about the trail.
Wisconsin's Last Glacier
Movement of the Laurentide Ice Sheet was shaped—to a certain extent—by the landscape. Highlands diverted the glacier into lobes (tongues or fingers of ice) that advanced into the lowland areas.
The Lake Michigan Lobe of the glacier flowed down the Lake Michigan lowland to central Indiana and Illinois. The Langlade, Wisconsin Valley, Chippewa, and Superior Lobes covered northern Wisconsin. The Green Bay Lobe flowed south in the Green Bay lowland, advancing over the east end of the Baraboo Hills and into both ends of Devils Lake gorge.
The edge of the Green Bay Lobe was probably a steep ice slope, perhaps several hundred feet high, littered with rock debris. Behind the steep slope, the ice surface probably rose very gently toward the center of the ice sheet, where the ice was thousands of feet thick.
The Ice Age National Scenic Trail is one of only 11 national scenic trails in the U.S. It is approximately 1,200 miles long and the entire trail is located within Wisconsin! The trail follows the edge of Wisconsin's most recent glacier and highlights many geological features along the way. The western terminus is located in Interstate State Park in Polk County and continues through a total of 30 counties with the eastern terminus located in Potawatomi State Park in Door County.
WISCONSIN GEOCACHING ASSOCIATION
The Wisconsin Geocaching Association (WGA) is a group of geocachers dedicated to promoting and protecting geocaching within the state of Wisconsin. The WGA organizes geocaching events, works with land owners/managers on geocaching policies, educates the public at large about geocaching, and facilitates communication between WGA members. To learn more about the WGA click on our logo below!
This cache placed by the WGA
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The Geocache Notification Form has been submitted to the Wisconsin DNR. Geocaches placed on Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources managed lands require permission by means of a notification form. Please print out a paper copy of the notification form, fill in all required information, then submit it to the land manager. The DNR Notification form and land manager information can be obtained at the Wisconsin DNR website.