Sea Caves

The first two years we lived in Northern Minnesota, we didn’t know that the sea caves in the Apostle Islands were sometimes accessible by ice in the middle of the winter.  We found out about this the five years ago when the ice broke up and the caves were inaccessible.  For the next five years we waited and waited for the ice to solidify so that we could venture over to Wisconsin to see them, but it didn’t happen.  Thanks to our frigid winter this year, the ice formed fast and hard, and the park service is allowing visitors to the cave.  The sea caves and their amazing ice formations have gotten a lot of press this winter, and pictures of the caves have gone viral, which means that thousands and thousands of people are coming out to see them from all over:  near and far.  It’s all for good reason, because it is a spectacular scene:  miles of intricate rock and ice.

This year we were determined not to miss out, and since ice can be unpredictable on Lake Superior (here one day, gone the next) we didn’t want to wait much longer to go on our adventure.  The best scenario would have been to go during the middle of the week to avoid the crowds and crowds of people, but upon looking at the family calendar closely, we realized that this option was not going to be possible for us.  So, following the advice of several other people we decided to get up super duper early on Saturday morning and drive in the dark over to the trailhead at the beach.  The kidlets were not excited about getting up at all, and there may have been rampant drama getting them into the car (where they promptly fell back asleep) but later in the day when it was time to leave they realized our wisdom when they saw people walking more than a mile from their cars parked on the highway to the start of the trailhead, and then hiking another long mile (it felt like more than a mile) across the ice to the actual caves.   We arrived in time to get a parking spot in the parking lot, which was a huge blessing.

We bundled up, stuck some snacks in our pockets to keep people happy (kudos to Dr.  Peds who was awesomely prepared for this venture . . . he thought of everything) and headed out with a sled for Mr. TOF.  Even at the early hour of just past sunrise, there were already throngs of people making the trek, a long line of little black dots stretching across the white snow covered lake on a well beaten path.  As the morning progressed, there were more and more and more people.

I’m not a landscape photographer, and the lighting was not the special kind of light that you will see if you look up Apostle Island Sea Caves on the internet right now, but I still had a lot of fun wandering around with my camera in the ice.  and so I’m sharing many images. When adventuring with kidlets, you can’t be fussy about the perfect lighting conditions.   The kidlets were very impressed when the long hike ended and they could do some exploring.  They were scooting through little tunnels way back in the deep parts of the caves and discovering all sorts of secret passage ways.  There was something new to see around every little bend and nook.  So, although EVERYONE is going to see the sea caves this year, it was a great Saturday morning experience.  If we hadn’t had our own crowd of kids we would have stayed longer and gone farther, but our littlest person was getting a bit cold and frustrated by the end.  All things considered though, he was quite a trooper.  Best of all, we were back at home for a late lunch, even though it’s about a 90 minute drive to the caves.

Mr. Trouble on Feet tried on everybody’s mittens to see which ones would keep his fingers the warmest.  I’m not sure if these heavy duty mittens won the prize or not, but he did sort of look like a lobster, which kept him happy for a while. We had great weather:  ten degrees and no wind.  I’m so blessed have such beauty so close to where I live.