The Last Ice Age

We traveled back in time to around 12,000 B.C. as we hiked along the Ice Age Trail in Potawatami State Park. The Wisconsin Glaciation was an event that began around 17,000 B.C. and lasted about 5,000 years. Great sheets of ice over a mile thick covered the earth down to the trail we walked for 3 hours today. The ice was so heavy that its weight depressed the earth beneath it in a process called “subsidence” to form the lake beds for the Great Lakes.

The terrain here was further deformed when the glaciers scoured out ridges and fjords. When temperatures rose about 12,000 B.C., the melting ice shield receded to the north and left behind a flying-saucer-shaped disk of bedrock extending from this western edge of the Niagara Escarpment. As one travels east the disk is tilted downward to its eastern edge, over which flows Niagara Falls.

Today was a perfect day for a hike in this thick boreal forest. A dry spring and a slight breeze kept the insects away. The wind also made this 80-degree day feel quite comfortable. In addition to this informative walk in the woods, we passed many of Wisconsin’s beautiful farms that provide America with most of it cherries, as well as dairy products, wheat, grapes and corn. The land here is flat, and the chief pastime is fishing. Our guide, himself an avid fisherman, gave me a fascinating explanation of his favorite activity—ice fishing. But that’s a story for another day.Read more