Places to Explore / Ice Age Trail
Wide prairie skies, flower-lined boardwalks, and a woodland detour among the ancient stone ledges of Brady’s Rocks.
A changing view around each bend
The Eagle Segment offers room to look far across the landscape—and plenty of reasons to look closely beside your feet. These photographs follow grassy paths, winding boardwalks, and wooded stretches, with purple blazing stars, pink milkweeds, tiny frogs, and warblers along the way.
The route passes through a landscape of prairie, oak savanna, and wetlands in the Scuppernong Basin. Nearby Kettle Moraine Low Prairie includes wet prairie, fen vegetation, and small upland islands with recovering oak openings. That variety helps explain the changing plant life in this collection.
A detour worth noticing
The blocky ledges at Brady’s Rocks are natural dolomite outcrops, exposed along a short, white-blazed loop off the Eagle Segment. They are part of the Niagara Escarpment—the same broad geological feature that extends through Door County and onward toward Niagara Falls.
The name remembers Irish immigrants Michael and Kathleen Brady, who settled here in 1855. The Ice Age Trail Alliance’s guidebook also describes remnants of a rubble-stone fence from their farm near the loop.
In the shade, the rock crevices provide places for ferns to grow. Take your time with the textures: stacked layers, mossy edges, and delicate green fronds make this feel quite different from the sunny prairie nearby.
Stay on the loop trail around the outcrops. The area supports sensitive fern and snail habitat, and the plants tucked into the rocks are part of what makes it special.
From my photo collection
Browse 62 photographs grouped by subject. Select any photograph to open the slideshow.
Follow the shaded paths between layered stone, moss, and woodland plants.
Open skies and grassy trails give way to leafy corridors and wetland crossings.
Blazing stars, milkweeds, and other small discoveries along the walk.
A closer look at the greenery around the rocks, plus a trailside mushroom cluster.
A few feathered visitors photographed among the grasses and trees.
Small animals are easy to miss when you are watching the scenery.
The Scuppernong and Stony Ridge signs mark neighboring segments. These photographs help show how the trail connects; use the current interactive map for navigation.
Plan your own walk
The Ice Age Trail Alliance lists the Eagle Segment as 5.6 miles between Highway 59 and the Highway 67 wayside. That is the full segment length, not a round trip. Choose access points and a turnaround that suit your walk; the Brady’s Rocks loop is an additional side trip.
Stony Ridge continues beyond the Highway 59 end, and Scuppernong continues from the Highway 67 wayside end. That is why signs for both appear in this collection: reaching another segment’s sign helps mark the transition along the larger Ice Age Trail.
Locate Brady’s Rocks and the nearby Highway 67 access on the interactive trail map before setting out. Follow the signed side loop from the Eagle Segment, then return to the main trail to continue your walk.
Boardwalks and grassy paths cross wet areas, so conditions can change with the weather. Check the Alliance’s map and Wisconsin DNR’s Southern Unit information for current access and notices. The signs in these photographs record what was there when I visited.
Sources & planning:
Photographs by Brian Woolman / Where’s Wildlife.