Hiking the Ice Age Trail

The Thorp Courier (Thorp, WI)
May 16, 2007
Transcribed by Dolores Mohr Kenyon

Milwaukee Man Hikes The Ice Age Trail to Promote Awareness

Many people have hiked the Ice Age Trail in sections, a bit here and there as they find the time to get out and enjoy nature. Jason Dorgan has completed a continuous run of the Ice Age Trail, 1, 079 miles with the help of his crewmen, Tom Bunk and Robert Wehner.  He started on April 14 and completed the trail on May 6, 22days, six hours later.  As Jason ran his last stretch of the trail he was joined by many new friends he had met along the way. Eugene and Sylvia Oberle drove to Potawatomi State Park in Door County to celebrate Jason’s completion of his journey.  Jason had set a time frame of 23 days and made the trip with time to spare. Along the way his legs gave him some trouble, but Jason wanted to run the Ice Age Trail to promote awareness and to raise money for the trail.  No stranger to strenuous undertakings, Jason ran the Badwater Ultra Marathon that begins in Death Valley, the lowest elevation in the Western Hemisphere at 280’ below sea level.  The race finished at the Mt. Whitney Portals at an elevation of 14,505 feet.

Jason stayed in Thorp at the AmericInn on day four of his trip. Along the way fellow hikers and enthusiasts have joined Jason for parts of his journey.  Pictured are: (L-R) DNR volunteer Karl Pracht, Sylvia Oberle, and Jason Dorgan.  They met on the trail before he spent the evening at AmericInn and took a brief Gatorade stop.  [Transcriber note: there was only the one photo of Jason]. Sylvia has completed 271 miles of the trail thus far. To see some amazing pictures and to read his daily Blog, log on to www.iceagetrail1000.com.  Thanks to Sylvia Oberle for bringing this story to our attention and for supplying some great shots of Jason on the Trail.