This is the first year I have done a significant amount of hiking (I am only 16). The dreary days of fall and early winter going to school had left me yearning for the forest. Now it's Christmas vacation and I have two weeks off. Gee, the weather has been unusually calm and clear over this vacation. What should I do' Head for the hills!

Today was the third time I have gone hiking over vacation (Tiger Mountain and Mt. Si last week) and I still want more. I headed off at about 9:30 am this morning to take in as much of the Mountain Loop Highway as I could. I would start by heading up to the trail to Big Four Ice Caves. The road started gettion frosty in the shade of trees just after Granite Falls. This didn't surprize me, but the frost kept getting thicker and thicker Until it was about an inch thick and coating everything aroud Big Four Picnic Area. I was also surprized to see 1-2 feet of snow at the Picnic Area. The access road was closed so I had to walk about a quarter mile extra over snow to get to the picnic area.

The view of the shady north face of Big Four Mountain is absolutly incredible in its layer of snow. I think I got some great pictures with frosty shrubs in the foreground. The trail (boardwalk) is completely covered in snow but is easy to follow because of the trench left by others. I am not used to hiking in hard (sometimes icy) snow so I slipped around quite a bit. I turned around where the trail started going uphill and I was slipping a lot. I think this was a little over half way to the ice caves. Anybody with any confidence and experience in the snow whatsoever could go further than I did. I was also worried about my dad's nice car that I had to park right next to the slippery highway. Oh well. I went back down the Mountain Loop Highway to the Lake 22 Trailhead hoping for better luck there.

What a difference a day makes! Arrived at the picnic area just when the sun theoretically set on Sunday and decided to go up to see the ice caves instead of attempting to drive to Darrington in the snow. The trail is in good condition except for the 0-4 inches of snow from the bottom to the top and occasional mud spots. Never seen the ice caves before, but it was quite awesome being in the large bowl with all the light reflected off the snow. We stayed well away from the caves and listened to and watched the avalanches for a few minutes before heading back through the dark woods. Reccomended, but may be buried in snow next week.

If you plan your hikes based on a ""breath-taking scenes per mile"" ratio, and don't want to hike to far, this trail is for you. The trail is only one mile long, the elevation gain a paltry 250 feet, but the end is magnificent; a firm snow field, ice caves, and the towering walls of Big Four.

There are a few drawbacks: 1) There are a couple of mud-holes on the trail; my definition of a mud-hole being ""any area of mud in which your shoes/boots had best be tied tightly, or they're staying behind"" 2) The parking lot is very slippery 3) There is a boardwalk leading from the ""Big Four Ice Caves"" trailhead to the junction with the ""Big Four Picnic Area"" trail; this boardwalk is slicker than a televangelist. Although there are signs that advise parking at the picnic area, and although the Ice Caves Trailhead parking area is closed, like a fool I parked at the gate. My advice - PARK AT THE PICNIC AREA, TAKE THE TRAIL FROM THERE. The trails are apparantly roughly the same distance from the junction. 4) The trail is just too darned short for me. But it was perfect for the kids! 5) The Ice Caves are at the bottom of an avalanche chute; probably not the safest place to spend an afternoon. And a special note for those with insufficient will-power; don't go! The caves whisper their siren-song, beconing all comers to explore their icy interior. Too dangerous say all the Forest Service signs.

The Perks: 1) With the exception of the icy boardwalk,two icy bridges (the bridges have hand rails), and two areas with mud-holes, the trail is in good shape. There is snow near the end, but it is not slick, well compacted, and the trail is well defined. 2) The trail progressively improves; first a short walk through forest, then the bridges over the South Fork Stillaguamish and an unnamed creek that drains from the snow field. About two-thirds of the way up, the trail re-crosses the unnamed creek at a point where it cascades from a narrow moss-laden chanel. Finally, of course, the entry to the snow-field; the Ice Caves are dwarfed by the walls of Big Four and Hall Peak. Prepare to spend five or ten awe struck minutes beneath these walls.

The weather on this day was ideal, sunny and ""warm"" for this time of year.

We started the Big 4 Ice Caves hike around 10:40am. The trail was easy to walk, and soon when we got to the ice caves there was nobody there. The ice caves were very interesting. We checked out the edge of some of the caves and went in there just a little. Then we further explored the area and walked to the last cave, where we could see that a big chunkc of ice had collapsed at the end of the cave (next to the rock). It was obviously dangerous to go in these caves.