More than 300 attend Ice Age Trail dedication Sunday

Sometimes setbacks can turn out to be good things.

More than 35 years ago, a group of volunteers in the Rib Lake area came together to begin work on sections of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail.

The nearly 1,200 mile trail was established in 1980 and follows the furthest extent of the glaciers in the last ice age and had a tremendous impact on the landscape and geology of Wisconsin. Taylor County contains about 50 miles of the trail.

About 15 years ago, a property owner exercised their right to withdraw their property from the trail system. This cut off the trails and left through-hikers having to detour walking on roads for a portion of the trail.

For the past 15 years, the Ice Age Trail Alliance as been working to secure the corridor and build a new trail. These efforts were spearheaded by retired attorney Bob Rusch who has been on the foundations of the Ice Age trail in Taylor County. Rusch worked with the Ice Age Trail Alliance to purchase property for the Trail or secure permanent Trail rights from local landowners for a new Trail route.

On Sunday morning, with a bald eagle circling overhead, more than 300 people gathered to mark the dedication and official opening of a new 5 mile trail segment that completes the detour. The section runs from the Rusch Preserve Parking Lot on CTH C northeast of Rib Lake to a trailhead parking lot off of CTH D.

Rusch spoke during the dedication ceremony noting the new trail is actually a better trail than the one that came before. He said they have learned a lot in the years of trail building. He mentioned the nickname he got of “Bulldozer Bob” for using a bulldozer to form trails that are shared between the Rib Lake Ski and Snowshoe Club and the Ice Age Trail, and about how that would not be something done today.

Over the last two years, five large-scale volunteer Trailbuilding projects have taken place to create the new segment. In all, volunteers have created four miles of new hand-crafted Trail, built nine boardwalks and one bridge. The work culminated with a large-scale work project that saw nearly 100 volunteers brave wet weather to complete the trail in time for the dedication on Sunday morning.

“Thank you for your work and selflessness in giving back to future generations. It takes a lot of work,” said Luke Kloberdanz, Executive Director and CEO of the Ice Age Trail Alliance.

Kevin Thusius, Senior Director of Land Conservation for the Ice Age Trail Alliance spoke about what it took to bring the trail segment into its current form. In the past 15 years there have been 13 transactions to this point including 10 donations, two bargain sales and one purchase. “Every one was willing to work with us. It took relationship building,” Thusius said.

“No one was more instrumental than Bob Rusch in this process,” he said.

Dave Caliebe, Trail Program Manager of the Ice Age Trail Alliance spoke about the work done by volunteers throughout the project building trails and bridges, and laying stone steps. In total the trail segment includes 82 structures, all built by volunteers.

“It is pretty amazing,” he said, noting that many took multiple days to build and in one case eight to 10 days. He said there are still some finishing touches to be put on the new trail segment, but praised the hundreds of volunteers who put in the time to build the trail.

Luke Kloberdanz, Executive Director and CEO of the Ice Age Trail Alliance and (below, right) Kevin Thusius, Senior Director of Land Conservation for the Ice Age Trail Alliance spoke about the hard work put in by trail volunteers.