Big Four Ice Caves — Friday, Sep. 23, 2016

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

We had gone to a camping wedding the night before so lets just say we were a little dehydrated on Sunday so we wanted to do an easy hike and this was the perfect one. This short trail has rewarding views of the ice formations, waterfalls and surrounding mountains. There is a lovely boardwalk loop if you aren't up to or aren't able to do the 300+ ft elevation to the ice caves. The trail to the caves though is very well maintained and has some lovely bridges along the way, the reward being the ice caves of course. Even being the end of summer, we found the ice caves to be breathtaking. The waterfalls to the left hand side of the caves were just as beautiful. We were also fortunate enough to see some mountain goats with their offspring. One of the Rangers said that in her six years there, she had only seen them twice so we felt pretty lucky. Unfortunately they were too far away to take photos of with our cameras. This was my first time coming here but I can guarantee you that I will be back and throughout the different seasons so that I can see the changes among the foliage, the waterfall flows, and the ice formations. Probably because this is a popular hike, I saw a lot of trash along the trails, including two Starbucks plastic cups and three plastic trash bags. Just a reminder, to pack out whatever you pack in. Highly recommend this hike for photographers, and I even dare say, for a cure of a hangover! Cheers!