My fellow frugal friend Rachael and I promised each other that each month we would pile into the car with a day's worth of snacks, the camera and the GPS and visit a part of the Puget Sound we have never visited before.
Just over an hour from Seattle, this weekend's destination was Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest's Big Four Ice Caves.
Nestled in a valley, the caves are created by the melting snow from the mountain peaks above.
The water from the melting snow creates waterfalls and rivers within the mammoth ice banks. As the water flows through these hidden channels within the ice, it melts more of the ice and creates the caves.
The pictures below were taken by Rachael.
In the height of summer their is still plenty of ice and snow (FYI, those small dots are people).
Waterfalls that then disappear back into the ice, creating the caves.
Approaching the other-worldy looking mouth of the caves, visitors are blasted with cold air some 20 degrees cooler than the air around it. Fog pours out of the entrances, which are about 6 feet tall.
All one hear's at the foggy front door is the perpetual "drip drip drip" of the melting snow from inside.
The beautiful ceiling of the ice cave (reminiscent of a cathedral) is created by way the melting glacier drips off...forming these peaks and basins.
Light broke through from the snow field above the cave.
Filling our water bottles with ice cold glacier water. DELISH!
To begin planning your own adventure, visit http://www.wta.org/go-hiking.
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