The winter trek to Big Four Ice Caves is a great beginner/intermediate trek for folks who want to have fun in the snow but don't want to worry about avalanche danger. Snow is fairly compact on the road, but gets continuously deeper and softer from the Big Four picnic area/th up to the mountain's basin.
We turned around a little before where the ice caves should be (hard to see through the snow). I was beginning to posthole in high-thigh to low-hip level snow (I'm 5'9). We packed snowshoes and microspikes but never donned either.
There are a few blowdowns on the single-track to be mindful of, especially if you're with a big group, kids, your dog or have snowshoes/skis on. And try to stay on trail — accidentally stepping off the snow-laden turnpike or puncheon will be an unfun, cold posthole.
The road was a little icy on the way in, and probably 5 cars were parked at the gate when we arrived around 9 a.m. Probably closer to 20 cars when we returned around 1:30; the parking lot down the road had another 20-30 cars, overland rigs and trailers.
Overall really glad for Juneary weather to get outside. Lots of other folks had the same idea, and the trail was louder than I expected. Hikers, snowshoers, skiers, families, dogs (saw 1-2 on leash) and snowmobilers were all out having a fun time.
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