Second Trip to the Icecaves

       

       So after an invigorating first trip to the Ice Caves, we decided to go again. Obviously we made sure to prepare a little better and actually bring water. And a 4x4 vehicle.
If anybody has any questions about the ice caves, the first answer is undoubtedly to take an off-road vehicle. Luckily the Suttons (Shaela, Brooke, and Taylor) brought their Jeep. And like teleporting wizards, we made it to the caves. No problem.

Advice! Just take one off-road vehicle, meet up with the other cars on the pullout after the third cattle guard.

Things do get a little squished in the cave, you've got the giant ice build up on the left that slowly gets closer to the wall. The good news is that you can get up on top of the ice shelf, 

like in this picture to the right. There are several parts where you can stand up, these parts are lined with beautiful ice crystals. Allowing for the occasional dance party/sliding around.

So this trip, I had my camera. These pictures will allow you a better view of the ice caves.

Did I mention the graffiti?

At the back of the main cave there is a giant wall of ice discouraging further passage. I say discouraging because...I personally would like to break through it to continue exploring. But either way, there is a cool slide that you can play on. There is a little trail of footprints carved into the ice that allows you to safely walk up. It's definitely a good ending to the adventure of the cave.

Rexburg Ice Caves

     
     The first time Savanna and I decided to go to the ice caves, we had to rely on the directions we found on the internet. While they were fairly easy to follow, going out into the mountain desert past the St. Anthony dunes to find a hole in the ground is sort of like finding a needle in a hay stack.

Step 1- Drive Past Wal-Mart

Step 2- Drive past the sand dunes

Step 3- Drive past 3 cattleguards

Easy, right? Well that's what we thought, but the second cattle guard that we passed was the "painted on" kind. So we didn't know when we turned off on the third cattle guard (2 metal, 1 paint) if it was the right one or not. This uncertainty will play a large role in this adventure because we never knew if we were lost or not.   

Anyway, upon turning off the main road we noticed the road was extremely rocky. After hitting several rocks with my poor little Buick Century, we decided to park and just walk. It couldn’t be too far, we reasoned.

The bad news is that we didn’t bring any water.

The only way we were motivated to walk the four miles to the cave was because after getting lost and walking lost for a couple of miles, we were able to see a car parked where (we hoped) the ice caves were.
We came upon the lava flow, not knowing where to start searching, but eventually we did find the entrance. The picture on the left shows the entrance to the hole where the entrance is located. (right) Quite complex, quite awesome.

We were happy to finally reach the cave and begin exploring.

The entrance was watery, with a trail of rocks laid out for passage. No lie, we were worried. but a few yards in, the water gives way to ice. Solid ice. it begins to have trails carved into the ice, making for a slippery, cold, and dark adventure.

The Icy Ceiling and Floor

This first run of the ice caves was by far the most intense. We walked to and from the caves (without water!), we thought we were lost most of the time, and sadly we only had my cell phone camera. But we resolved to return!