This geocache is part of the West Bend GeoTour:
Twenty geocaches have been hidden throughout our historic city that highlight the best of West Bend in any season!
To earn a geocoin, teams must pick up a West Bend GeoTour Passport from the Chamber of Commerce (preferred method) or download a passport. Collect 25 points as detailed in the passport. See complete details at visitwestbend.com/geocaching-2.
Remember to record the password from this cache in your GeoTour Passport!
GeoTour Stop #16: The Ice Age National Scenic Trail
The Ice Age National Scenic Trail is a thousand-mile footpath — entirely within Wisconsin — that highlights the landscape features formed over 12,000 years ago from an immense flow of glacial ice that sculpted a landscape of remarkable beauty. It runs through the city of West Bend and offers great scenic hiking trails.
in 1936, the Kettle Moraine State Forest was established and volunteers began constructing its first hiking trails. Raymond Zillmer, a lawyer by profession and an avid walker, mountaineer and student of natural history, was a leading proponent for the protection of the Kettle Moraine. He pictured extending the Kettle Moraine Glacial Hiking Trail for several hundred miles. He was certain the concept warranted national attention. In 1958, Zillmer founded the Ice Age Park & Trail Foundation (now the Ice Age Trail Alliance) to begin efforts to establish a national park in Wisconsin that would encompass this route.
Bills were introduced in Congress to create an Ice Age National Park in Wisconsin, but in 1961, the National Park Service (NPS) concluded that it would be too difficult to administer. Grassroots supporters, State of Wisconsin officials, and NPS staff later came up with the Ice Age National Scientific Reserve composed of nine separate units around Wisconsin. In 1964, thanks to the efforts of Congressman Henry Reuss, the Ice Age Reserve legislation was passed by Congress and signed by President Johnson.
In the early 1970s, the Ice Age Trail Council was formed to carry out Ray Zillmer's vision for a long-distance hiking trail. Older trails on public lands, such as the Glacial Hiking Trail, became building blocks for the Ice Age Trail. Volunteers constructed new trail segments along much of the remaining route. Many of these new segments were built on private land after volunteers received handshake agreements with the landowners. After the Trail's first successful thru-hiker, and under the sponsorship of Congressman Henry Reuss, the Ice Age Trail finally joined the National Trails System. On October 3, 1980, President Carter signed the law establishing the Ice Age National Scenic Trail, one of only 11 National Scenic Trails in the U.S.
The Geocache: You are looking for a small container just off the trail. Take the hiker trail, not the bike trail. The trailhead is across the street from the provided parking coordinates, and take the trail to the left. You cannot access the trail from Hummingbird Court. Use the parking coordinates! This cache is available any season, but would be trickier to find with a lot of snow.