The Table Bluff Segment is short but very sweet. It is 2.5 miles linear and makes a five mile out-n-back. You can take a couple of white blazed trails on the return to make your hike somewhat loop-like.
Just West of Madison, the karst topography of Wisconsin's Driftless Area introduces walkers on the Ice Age Trail to a more ancient version of Wisconsin terrain - one that was not smoothed and sculpted by glaciers.
The Table Bluff section is well defined and offers amenities such as parking lots, a picnic shelter, and a port-a-john, but no disperse camp sites. Overall it is a moderate walk without mountaineering rated climbs.
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I didn’t understand the sport of hiking until I began hiking the regional trails of the Northeast. While growing up in Wisconsin I often hiked with friends or family in state parks or at nature centers – but these walks amounted to little more than nature walks. While getting your feet onto a dirt footpath is certainly good for the soul, the sport of hiking requires a different type of trail and experience.
Living in Connecticut for a few years, I was introduced to a whole new type of walking – on their expansive network of Blue Blazed Trails. Slackpacking the full length of one Blue Blazed trail could take five weekends; vertical climbs were exhilarating, and spending 5 hours at a time immersed in woodlands without encountering major roads, industry, farms, or residences meant that my soul had time to really soak it in (not to mention the 3000 kcals that could be burned in one morning of hiking).
Regional trails like these do exist in Wisconsin, but mostly far Up North. While the state forests in the Kettle Moraine and trails in the Baraboo Hills offer a taste of regional hiking, getting into the sport of hiking is challenging in Southern Wisconsin where most of the State’s population resides. The Ice Age Trail seeks to change that.
The Table Bluff Section is a stand out on the IAT. While it lacks memorable features or photogenic vistas, it provides exactly the experience of regional hiking which most State Park or nature center trails cannot. In a two hour out-n-back, hikers are treated to multiple small climbs, a sense of deep forest, immersion in oak savanna, prairie, wetland, and a general sense of gentle and serene Wisconsin landscape. More than that, it is nearby to a major urban area in Madison and Dane County and is accessible and available to a large population.
Table Bluff is the kind of trail section that will inspire new hikers to get into the sport of hiking. It proves that a good hiking footpath can exist where there is not a state forest or state park. It’s only downfall is its short length. It is such a beautiful walk that we just want it to keep going.
Overview: Ice Age National Scenic Trail - Table Bluff Segment
COUNTYDANE COUNTY
COMMUNITIES
CROSS PLAINS
TOTAL MILES
2.5-MILE POINT-TO-POINT
DIFFICULTY
MODERATE
LOWEST ELEVATION
840 AMSL
HIGHEST ELEVATION
1060 AMSL
TOTAL ELEVATION GAIN
380 FT
TOTAL ELEVATION LOST
-550 FT
POINTS OF INTEREST
Table Bluff, Swamplover's Preserve
NEXT IAT SEGMENT EASTBOUND
CROSS PLAINS SEGMENT
NEXT IAT SEGMENT WESTBOUND
INDIAN LAKE SEGMENT
Directions and Trail Map
DOWNLOAD PRINTABLE PDF USGS TOPOGRAPHIC MAPCROSS PLAINS QUADRANGLE
Click Map Image to load the full interactive map.
If viewing on a mobile device, open the trail map above to load into Google Maps App by touching the expand rectangle in the upper right corner
Address for your GPS: 8877 Table Bluff Road, Cross Plains, WI 53428
| Coordinates: N43.143896, W089.670328 |
| From Milwaukee | 1.5 Hours |
| From Madison | 20 Minutes |
| From Green Bay | 2 Hours |
| From Wausau | 2.5 Hours |
| From Minneapolis | 4 Hours |
| From Chicago | 3 Hours |
Photos
Links
Ice Age National Trail Alliance
Ice Age National Trail - National Parks Service
PLACES TO EAT NEAR CROSS PLAINS:
Coach's Club Pub and Grub