America’s national forests and grasslands are popular destinations for recreational activities like swimming, hiking and rock climbing. But did you know that they also offer opportunities for exploring rare and unique sites like ice caves? In fact, the USDA Forest Service has ice caves in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington state, the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska, and the very well-known Big Four Ice Caves in Washington state’s Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
Typically, ice caves like those listed above are found in colder climates or higher elevations and have a significant amount of ice year-round. But not always. In fact, the ice caves of the Badlands of the Little Missouri National Grasslands aren’t in the mountains at all—there are none nearby—and they keep their ice until mid-July.
So there's something, if you pardon the pun, pretty cool about ice caves in the Badlands. Perhaps prehistoric peoples used them for shelter, or bandits hid out in them to avoid arrest. Whatever mysteries of the past they contain, no one will ever really know, but that doesn’t stop those of us with an adventuring spirit from exploring them.
Wanting to see these unique caves for herself, world famous explorer Darley Newman and her guide, Forest Service employee Treva Slaughter, set out on a hot day to visit the Badland ice caves.
Caption: Darley Newman and her guide Forest Service employee, Treva Slaughter, take a break on their hot hike to the cool ice caves of the Little Missouri National Grassland. (Photo credit: Darley Newman)
“Many people are surprised to learn that you can hike to ice caves in North Dakota in the summertime,” said Newman, the creator and host of Travels with Darley, a nature and cultural exploration series that airs on the Public Broadcasting Service. “The best part about it is after a long hot hike, you can cool off inside these summertime ice caves.”
Steep rocky inclines surrounded by bushes make getting to the ice caves somewhat treacherous.
However, inside the ice caves the temperature drops dramatically, and you’ll find yourself in nature’s climate controlled natural air conditioning. If you ever wondered what being in a bottle of champagne looks like, just shine a flashlight on the walls of these caves and watch them sparkle with thousands of tiny ice droplets.
To get to the Ice Caves, start from the aptly named Ice Cave Trail that runs through the Little Missouri National Grassland and connects with the Maah Daah Hey Trail, mixing the colorful grasslands with the badlands.
With over a million acres, the Little Missouri National Grassland surrounds the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, creating a wonderland for outdoor lovers that’s cool and not so bad after all.
Original source can be found here.
Source: Forest Service (FS)
