A quick, simple day out for my doggo and I. Of note - microspikes were more than enough, and handy in some icy sections. The first part of the road walk is completely dry. Snow is minimal, as seems to be the case everywhere this time of year. The ice caves themselves aren’t visible. I couldn’t tell if they were buried/collapsed under an old avy debris pile. Nonetheless, still a beautiful day out there. The restrooms in the Big Four parking area were surprisingly open, and clean! I figured anything past the gate closure would be locked up for the season.

The restrooms at the Verlot station are open, clean, and stocked with running hot water in the sinks (at least in the women's side). Mountain Loop Highway has many frosty sections and we felt the car slip three times. Take extra care driving around shaded bends in the road.

Snow begins immediately at the Deer Creek gate and continues all the way to the ice caves. We wore microspikes and gaiters the entire way. We had poles but did not use them, and the gaiters were not necessary, either. Microspikes made the walk much more comfortable but we saw many hikers without.

The snow is compact, not fluffy at all, and easy to walk on with spikes. Once you go past the picnic area toward the caves, the path is well-defined through the forest. There are several downed trees to duck under and hop over.

The base of the ice caves looked like avalanche debris; all the more reason to never get too close to or enter the caves.

Fitbit logged just over 7 miles roundtrip.

The road past the gate was covered in a few inches of snow of and went up to about 1 1/2 to 2 feet at the summer trailhead. Snow was packed on the road and entire trail, snowshoes aren't needed. Brought yakraks but didn't use them. On the trail there's a couple trees down but they were easy to get around. At the caves there was ~3 feet of snow off the trail. Lots of avalanches coming down the mountain and no one else there. On the way back the masses showed up, a couple dozen people heading up the road and the turnaround was full of parked cars 😑. Great day in the mountains though.

Snow along the road is well packed and easy to walk on. If you're going past the picnic area, highly recommend microspikes as there are sections of frozen ice along the slope up.

Parked at the Deer Creek road closure and walked the 2+ miles to the trailhead. About 18” of snow at the trailhead but packed down so spikes or snowshoes not needed. Counted 18 trees to go over and under on the trail itself so pretty tough going in spots but did make it to the viewpoint of the caves. Beautiful day!