I would be so angry if that happened to me, I'm sorry you were hurt! I can't imagine having to be carried down the trail.
The Scout leader doesn't sound like a very good leader. He should absolutely be keeping track of everyone and providing support instead of being far ahead down the trail.
My family and my brother's family recently camped at Devil's Lake and did one hike. We did the East Bluff/Ice Age Trail and East Bluff Woods Trail loop
https://www.devilslakewisconsin.com/...-descriptions/ We came down on the Ice Age Trail side, not the woods side.
I'm no Scout leader and most of my walks involve walking around Mpls city lakes with a stop for ice cream, but I thought the Ice Age Trail descent was ok. It was a very busy trail and there were a number of younger kids we saw on our way. I also saw one lady in high heels(!) and another woman with a small dog in a dog stroller. There was a pretty significant rain the day we went too. We had my SIL with a 6 month old in a front carry Baby Bjorn, two 11 year olds, a 14yo, 15yo and three more adults.
I will say the trails were not marked well at all, with no indication of how much farther it was to scenic points, and the one directional sign we saw was confusing. I checked my Fitbit stats for the day we were there and saw I walked over 7 miles and 72 flights of stairs(equivalent), so that doesn't really seem like the "medium effort" trail that's indicated on the website I linked. I wonder if it's possible the leader took the wrong trail? The trails we went on seemed appropriate for preteens. Some of the pictures for other trails look super intense and honestly pretty scary.
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