Sunburst Surprise

Because it was kind of a rest day but not a complete day off, today I decided to visit a short section of the Ice Age Trail that I had not seen before. My brief hike turned out to be something more than I expected.

I started at the Ridge Road trailhead and followed the trail to Sunburst Winter Sports Park. I thought my hike would be a simple out-and-back, but on my return I decided to leave the Ice Age Trail and its familiar yellow blazes for wherever the white blazes might lead. And by following those white blazes I not only got to see even more trail I had never seen before, but I also got to revisit some that I had. In the days of the Sunburst Showdown—formerly part of the Wisconsin Off-Road Series—I raced my mountain bike there. The back of the ski hill always had more potential for fun than the front, but it’s all private property and getting access was a challenge.

Anyway, the combination of the Ice Age Trail and this other trail made for a short but challenging loop with a lot of elevation change. My counter-clockwise, 2.7-mile lap took 47 minutes.

That’s as much as I could squeeze into my schedule today, but I’ll go back soon to knock out a couple of laps now that I know it’s an option.