Eben Ice Cave

Sunday, February 13th, 2011 at 11:46 am

Andrew at the Eben Ice Cave

Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day. And it was somewhat warm, with temperatures in the mid-20′s. This felt like a heat wave after several days earlier in the week when the temperature barely struggled to five degrees!

Of course, any time it warms up during the winter, any red-blooded Yooper will find something to do outdoors. Since the last adventure Andrew and me had was in October (when we climbed Hogback Mountain and visited the Lily Pond), we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and go to visit the Eben Ice Cave.

This is a little waterfall in the summer, but it freezes into spectacular walls of ice in the winter months. We’d been hearing about it since we moved here two years ago, so off we went!

Footbridge over creek - Eben Ice Cave

It’s a bit of a trek to get there; you have to drive down to Eben, a little town about 30 miles southwest of Marquette. Then you hike in. The walk itself is gorgeous, through the winter woods. This little footbridge is part of the trail.

View of small waterfall from footbridge

The last part of the trail was up and down. We both had our ice grippers on our boots, and it was a good thing we did. It was SLICK! I slid down a couple of spots on my bottom.

Just before you get to the ice cave, the trail is VERY steep and slippery. Add at least 75 people into the mix, and a half dozen dogs, and it was pretty exciting, with dogs and kids running and sliding everywhere.

Click on the pictures to make them bigger. If you click twice, they get much larger, so you can see the details.

A frozen waterfall is a spectacular sight. If you ever make it up the UP during the winter, don’t miss it!

Andrew in front of the ice cave.

Me standing by the entrance to the ice cave

Andrew inside the ice cave. You can walk completely behind the ice and come out on the other side. I chickened out, as there was a sheet of ice on the floor. (Ha, he looks like an alien with those glowing eyes!)