A Brief Ode to Eskers

My favorite glacial landform

An esker on the Loew Lake segment of the Ice Age Trail

What is not to love about an esker? An echo of a river that once ran through a glacier and now stands tall and sinuous on the landscape. When I walk along its ridge, I can’t help but fling my arms out—my best impression of a tightrope walker, though the ground is sturdy beneath my feet. That drop off on either side makes me feel on top of the world!

Photos don’t do eskers justice and like much Midwestern topography, they can easily be discounted as boring by those who don’t know their story. But there is something both humbling and invigorating about following an esker’s serpentine path. Once there was flowing water here, once there was a glacier here! That is all gone now, but an esker remains.

Part of why I hold eskers in such high esteem is that they are fairly easy to identify. I can appreciate eskers because I know when I am hiking upon one and so the excitement grows with each new acquaintance. My first steps along the ridge are marked by careful observation—after all, I don’t want to misidentify a moraine—but soon I will be confident enough to greet my favorite glacial landform: Behold, the esker, that serpent kame!

An interpretive sign about eskers on the Loew Lake segment of the Ice Age Trail