A Fall Hike on The Ice Age Trail

Every fall my husband and I like to drive up towards Bloomer Wisconsin and take a hike on a portion of the 1,200 mile  Ice Age Trail.  The colors are always beautiful and the trails are a nice mix of scenic landscapes as pictured below, heavily forested trails, and lake views. 

I spotted this gorgeous mound of purple Asters growing near the Visitor's Center.

The first part of our trek led us through a sunny grassy path and meadows.

One can find fall color and interest in not just the trees, but in all aspects of plant life like this field of grass and wildflowers.

I always love the berries produced on trees and bushes in the fall.

 I found more wildflowers!

As much as we've enjoyed the Ice Age Trail, I think this will be our last for a while.  We've been going here four years straight, but the last two years have ended in strife so I'm starting to think the place is jinxed for us.  Hubby wanted to take a short cut instead of starting in the forest behind the Visitor's Center like we have done in the past.  Well this "shortcut" led to a fork in the trail where of course there was no sign (Don't you hate that?  This happens to us all the time when we are hiking.  Everything is going well, then we hit a fork in the trail with no sign and we have no idea which way to go) and hubby decided to go right which ended up leading us farther and farther from the trail.  So, we decided to get off that path and follow the main road BACK to the trail.  Eventually, we were back on track, but it was a lot of unnecessary steps in my opinion and was no shortcut.  I was fuming. 😠. Last year's hiking story is even worse, I didn't even blog about it; it was so bad.  But I will spare you that drama. 😌

Our "little" detour did have incredible fall tree foliage which we didn't see so much of while on the trail.

Back on the trail once again, we found more fall color close to the ground.

Can you see me in the distance?

Even though it was pretty, this was not a spectacular year for fall color.  It was really late this year, and when it finally arrived it was more muted and didn't last long.  I wonder what causes some years to be better than others?

The Ice Age Trail has lots of little lakes which makes hiking in the area more special.

And I always love all the cute bridges to use as photo ops.

All the ferns were this light golden brown color.  There were areas where the ground was just covered in this color.  My ferns never do this, but they are a different type of fern.  Mine just shrivel up and die back in the fall.

I love looking up and seeing the color above me with the bright blue sky in the background.

Another lake.

What a perfect spot to stop and take a break.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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 See these posts for more information on the Ice Age Trail:

Fall Hiking Week One:  The Ice Age Trail and Brunet Island State Park

Fall Hiking Week Two:  A Return to the Ice Age Trail