Chippewa Moraine State Recreation Area

🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 Wisconsin — 3,763-acre landscape sculpted by the last Ice Age — the Chippewa Lobe of the glacier left behind a chaotic jumble of kettle lakes, moraines, and erratics just 12,000 years ago! The Ice Age National Scenic Trail passes through, and the interpretive center explains how glaciers shaped Wisconsin.

Visitor Information

About Chippewa Moraine

Chippewa Moraine State Recreation Area in Chippewa County preserves the terminal moraine of the Chippewa Lobe — the farthest advance of the last Ice Age glacier in western Wisconsin (15,000 years ago). The jumbled landscape of kettles, kames, and eskers creates some of the most dramatic glacial topography in the Upper Midwest. The Ice Age National Scenic Trail passes through, connecting to Wisconsin’s 1,200-mile glacial heritage route.

Things to Do

Hiking the Ice Age National Scenic Trail, visiting the interpretive center, fishing in kettle lakes, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and exploring Wisconsin’s most dramatic glacial landscape.

Plan Your Visit

The Ice Age Interpretive Center explains glacial geology with hands-on exhibits and a 3D terrain model. Several loop trails (1-6 miles) pass kettles, kames, and eskers. The Ice Age National Scenic Trail’s Chippewa Moraine segment is among its most dramatic. Chippewa Falls (15 minutes) — birthplace of Leinenkugel’s beer — offers brewery tours. Open year-round; snowshoeing and cross-country skiing in winter are exceptional.

Nature & Wildlife

The kettle lakes — formed when buried ice blocks melted — support rare bog plants including pitcher plants, sundews, and leatherleaf. Sandhill cranes nest in the wetlands, and timber wolves have returned to the region. The moraine landscape creates an unusual mosaic of wetlands, dry ridges, and open water that supports extraordinary biodiversity for northern Wisconsin.

Insider Tips

Ice Age landscape: Chippewa Moraine is a textbook glacial landscape — moraines, kettles, eskers, and erratics created when the Chippewa Lobe of the Laurentide Ice Sheet retreated 15,000 years ago. Pro tip: The Ice Age National Scenic Trail passes through — one of only 11 National Scenic Trails in the US. Interpretive center: The center explains glacial geology with interactive exhibits and a 3D terrain model.

Best Time to Visit

Fall: Moraine hills with foliage. Summer: Hiking and swimming in kettle lakes. Spring: Wildflowers on the moraines. Winter: Snowshoeing the Ice Age Trail.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a moraine?

A moraine is a ridge of unsorted rock and sediment (till) deposited at the edge of a glacier — like a bulldozer leaving a pile of debris. Terminal moraines mark the farthest advance of the glacier. The Chippewa Moraine marks where the Chippewa Lobe stopped and began melting — the hilly, lake-dotted landscape was created in just a few thousand years as the ice retreated.