Wisconsin's Henry S Reuss Ice Age Visitor Center: Kettle Moraine State Forest Northern Headquarters

The Exhibit Room in the Ice Age Visitor Center introduces visitors to four successively advancing and retreating 1-mile (1.61 kilometer) thick ice sheets which covered one-third of Planet Earth's surface. The sheets occurred when snow accumulation remained after warm-weather melts. They took place following worldwide cooling of 1+ million years ago.

The last Ice Age began 110,000 years ago. It peaked 18,000 years ago. The final thaw took place 12,000 to 10,000 years ago.The last stage was named the Wisconsin Glacial Age. It was preceded by the Illinoian, Kansan and Nebraskan glaciations.

The word drumlins comes from the ancient Irish Gaelic for the ridge of a hill. Drumlins form into long, narrow mounds of clay and rock. They have the teardrop shape of one rounded end and one tapered. The narrow end indicates the direction of ice flow.

The word eskers comes from the ancient Irish Gaelic for a ridge separating two plains. These long, winding gravelly ridges cross rolling landscapes. They identify places where water flowed through tunnels within the stagnant ice.The best known of Wisconsin's eskers is the Parnell Esker accessible by the Ice Age and Parnell Tower Trails.

The Scots word kame designates cone-shaped, steep-sided hills. Kames form from water falling through vertically-fractured shafts in ice. The water moves debris from above to below ground. Gravel and sand remain when the long-stagnant glacier melts. Many kames stand
100+ feet (30.48+ meters) tall. They and kettles typify Kettle Moraine State Forest's landscape.

Kettles are depressions which pock the landscape. They form from the melting of ice blocks buried deep within rubbled surfaces. They measure 12 feet (3.66 meters) to 2+ miles 3218.69+-meters) in diameter. Some depressions remain dry. Others will accumulate water, to become lakes and ponds, such as Bear and Greenbush Kettle Lakes.

The word moraine comes from the Vulgate Latin murrum for "round object." Moraines jumble loose rocks and soil assumed and abandoned by active glaciers. End moraines look ridge-like, such as the Kettle Moraine. Ground moraines measure 2 inches (5.08 centimeters) to 100+ feet (30.48+ meters).

Outwashes are level plains. They form from the moving of gravel and ice by glacial melt. Melt-water moves in broad, shallow channels. It stops pushing boulders, clay, gravel, sand or silt once its momentum slows. One consequence will be built-up rich farmland, as in the Jersey Flats area of Lake Winnebago.

Kettle Moraine State Forest is in southeastern Wisconsin. It is known for glacial landforms and hilly terrain. It spreads 100 miles (160,934.4 meters) over five units.

The Lapham Peak Unit lies south of Delafield, in Washington County. It offers hiking trails and an observation tower.

The Loew Lake Unit of Washington County includes a small recreation area in the town of Erin on the Oconomowoc River. It offers hiking, horse riding, and hunting.

The northern unit extends from near Glenbeulah in the north to near Kewaskum in the east. It goes into Fond du Lac, Sheboygan and Washington Counties. It includes: 

• Kettle Moraine State Forest headquarters;
• Greenbush, Long Lake and Mauthe Recreation Areas;
• Parnell Observation Tower;
• Spruce Lake Bog (State Natural Area No. 59).

The Pike Lake Unit is accessed by Highway 60 between the city of Hartford and the village of Slinger. It offers biking, camping, hiking, swimming, and observation-tower viewing.

The southern unit extends from near North Prairie southwestward to Whitewater Lake. It includes Old World Wisconsin's collection of model nineteenth-century homesteads. It offers boating and camping at Ottawa and Whitewater Lake Recreation Areas.