Jan. 17, 2017 – Town of Polk, WI – The Kneeland family kept a crowd entertained Saturday at the Polk Town Hall as they took everyone for a hike on the Ice Age Trail in Wisconsin.
Scott Kneeland and his sons Andy (11) and Kyle (8) have spent the past five years hiking 1,000 miles on the trail in segments. “We celebrated our finish with a cake shaped like Wisconsin with the trail in frosting,” said Scott. “The most important part was about being with my boys.“
For the next two hours the Kneelands showed a slide show of photos as they drifted county to county. “We’re going to go west to east,” said Scott. “It’s opposite from how we actually did the hike so you’ll see my kids getting younger as they go.”
During the afternoon show the boys chimed in with facts of their own. “The longest part we did in the day was 16 miles,” said Kyle. 
“The most common animal we saw was tics,” Andy said. “We had to stay away from the grasses because that’s where tics were the worst.”
Scott described his boys as loving the outdoors.
“We call Kyle, KTK for Kyle the Kenyan,” said Scott. “He is a natural hiker and he’s tough and insistent.“
Andrew was using sign language at 4 months old. “He could sign before he could speak,” said Scott. “He signed tree and his first words were ‘I’m hiking.'”
The families favorite state park was Harrington Beach, the largest number of ticks pulled from in one day of hiking was 143.
Kyle told stories about coming across a juvenile bear and another time he thought they were being chased by a pack of wolves. “It was terrifying and we couldn’t see a thing,” he said.
The boys liked walking on eskers and Scott found if he wore a yellow shirt it helped keep the mosquitoes away.
The event was held as part of the Washington/Ozaukee Chapter-Ice Age Trail Alliance annual meeting.
The Ice Age Trail Alliance is a nonprofit volunteer and member-based organization established in 1958 that works to create, support and protect the Ice Age National Scenic Trail. One of only 11 National Scenic Trails, the Ice Age Trail is a thousand mile footpath that highlights Wisconsin’s world-renowned Ice Age heritage and natural resources. 45 miles of the trail are in Washington County.
Visit: Iceagetrail.org for more information.
