The Timberland Hills Segment of the Ice Age Trail is a 10.9-mile footpath that meanders along cross-country ski trails through the Timberland Hills Ski Area. During the spring, summer, and fall, these are wide-cut, mowed grass trails that are easy to navigate and hike. In the winter, hikers should respect the ski trails and walk single file as close to the edges of the groomed trails as possible.
This segment is connected to the Sand Creek Segment via a short connecting road walk at the West trailhead and via a 2.5-mile connecting road route to the Grassy Lake Segment heading eastbound on the IAT.
Accessing the trail is easy, and there are large parking lots on Highway H and at the end of Boyd Lane, as well as a smaller lot at the west trailhead on 30th Ave. There are portable toilets at the County Highway H lot and the Boyd Lane lot.
Primitive camping is allowed in the Burnett County Forest, which includes the ski trail areas. A hike-in camper cabin is available for rent through Airbnb. It is directly on the trail about ½-mile from the lot on Boyd Lane.
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| I took a small group out here in winter and we used the cabin as a base for winter camping. The snowshoeing was superb. |
In the blazing afternoon sun, dusty snow crystals sparkled like prims. A pair of skiers wooshed by, their long skis following tracks in seemingly effortless fluid movements. The skiers glided down a long hill, were behind a bend, and were out of sight in as short a time as they had appeared. The five of us, burdened by backpacks and clogging our way uphill in snowshoes, stopped and gasped in unison—how beautiful the sport of skiing was to behold. The magic of a winter weekend was upon us.
We five were here for an overnight adventure at the hike-in camper cabin, three-quarters of a mile from a parking lot—up and down massive hills (those hummocky things indigenous to the Ice Age Trail and its hundred-some segments). Two of us were geared for winter camping and pulled our gear behind us in pulks. The others would be warm in the one-room cabin, heated by a wood-burning pot belly stove.
This was the first of many times I would hike a portion of the Timberland Hills Segment and use the affordable camper cabin as my Ice Age Trail exploration base. On this trip, we’d have little to no time to do much hiking. We’d first get acquainted with the cabin and agree to some etiquette for keeping its floors dry. There was firewood to chop and dinners to cook.
I shoveled a flat space for my smallish 4-season cold tent on a little knoll overlooking a frozen pond. My neighbor would be my dear friend, Anne, who was busy setting up her hot tent for the first time. For those unfamiliar, a hot tent is a tent with a wood-burning stove inside it. These tents take quite an effort to set up. One must also have a deep woodpile of sticks and logs of just the right size to fit in a small titanium stove. That requires a lot of preparation time and is a full weekend activity. My cold tent goes up fast, but the extra layers and the challenge of keeping snow out of the tent make the winter camping setup extra long.
Lucky for the two of us, our friends in the cabin had the place heated up when we were ready for dinner. Night fell early, as it does in winter. So, after dinner, we took a dusky and moonlit walk on the IAT in our snowshoes. After a campfire and lots of hot toddies, I retired to my frigid cold tent, where I got at least two hours of actual sleep.
The next morning, after packing up and hauling our gear back out, we drove to the Timberland West Trailhead on County H. We snowshoed a few miles of the IAT around there.
The next long drive from Madison to Wisconsin’s Northwest corner was in early spring. A few of us camped at Straight Lake State Park, and for one morning, three of us shuttle-hiked the portion of the trail from 30th Ave over to Boyd Lane. This is an outstanding portion of the trail. I was surprised by the quality of the trail – wide and easy to follow - and the pastoral scenery in this section of woods is interspersed with beaver dams, lakes, and ponds.
Finally, I made a solo trip to the area in late summer during a smokey weekend when a Canadian wildfire was pouring smoke over Wisconsin and ruining everyone’s summer plans. Visibility was an issue during my drive up, but by the time I reached Timberland Hills, the smoke clouds were beginning to clear.
I enjoyed the peace and ease of the camper cabin, after getting settled in, I did a long loop hike from the cabin to the end of the Timberland Hills Segment on Leach Lake Road and back around on other ski trails. I was surprised again by the peaceful woods at Timberland Hills, with its small lakes, ponds, and streams, which make for an enjoyable hike separated by memorable landmarks.
The best part of that trip might have been staying overnight on the trail at the camper cabin without having to set up a tent or chop firewood. I could relax, turn on music, and slouch beside the campfire beneath the now-clear skies with bright stars.
Since then, I have used the camper cabin at Timberland Hills as a base for many of my Ice Age Trail hikes in the area. It makes it easy and is a great place to find space and solitude.
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| I've rented this cabin three times over the years. It's a great place to stage hikes on the IAT from in all seasons. |
ICE AGE NATIONAL SCENIC TRAIL TIMBERLAND HILLS SEGMENT
COUNTY
BARRON, BURNETT
COMMUNITIES
TIMBERLAND, BARRONETT
TOTAL MILES
10.9-MILES POINT-TO-POINT
DIFFICULTY
MODERATE
LOWEST ELEVATION
1200AMSL
HIGHEST ELEVATION
1536 AMSL
CUMMULATIVE TOTAL ELEVATION GAIN
1780 FT
NEXT NCT SECTION WESTBOUND
IAT SAND CREEK SEGMENT
NEXT NCT SECTION EASTBOUND
IAT GRASSY LAKE SEGMENT
Directions and Trail 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: 2992 3rd St, Barronett, WI 54813
| coordinates: 45.63881900638149, -92.09350130913907 |
| From Milwaukee | 4.5 Hours |
| From Madison | 4 Hours |
| From Green Bay | 4 Hours |
| From Wausau | 2.5 Hours |
| From Minneapolis | 2 Hours |
| From Chicago | 6 Hours |
Photos
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| The west trailhead for the Ice Age Trail Timberland Hills Segment |
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| The west end of the trail is easy and rolls along single track footpath around ponds |
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| A beaver lodge on one of the ponds |
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| And another beaver lodge and pond |
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| The trail uses a beaver dam to cross between two picturesque ponds |
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| The beavers really have done an outstanding job landscaping this section of trail |
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| Then we come to a nice glacial pond |
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| As the trail nears the Timberland Hills Ski Area it will follow a red snowshoe trail |
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| And then turn onto what I would call an 8-track wide grass covered footpath. These are the widest ski trails I've seen.ds |
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| Here's another view of the ski trails that the IAT uses as well |
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| The rest of the photos generally look like this. Here is what your hike looks like on this segment. |
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| More lush trails |
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| A few gates scattered about |
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| And one area beside a grazing field |
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| A short distance on a private gravel road |
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| Now way on the east side of this trail you'll cross a bridge over a strong running stream |
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| Just after this bridge there is a warming shelter used by skiers in the winter, but in all other seasons this would be a fine place to camp in front of on a multi-day backpacking trip. |
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| More wetlands on the east end. |
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| There is a mile plus of single track on the far east end of the segment that climbs some steep hills. |
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| And the single track climbs a rise beside a small glacial lake |
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| Here is the view of the small lake from a bench. It's only another 1/4 mile to the east trailhead |
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| This pond is by the AirBnB campers cabin near the center of this segment |
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| And the winter camping was cold |