I really don’t like to rain on anyone’s parade but my newsfeed has been filled lately with notices and photos of the Apostle Islands Ice Caves.  Seems the lakeshore ice in Bayfield Wisconsin has not formed in 5 years shutting people out from exploring the caves.  I keep looking for something that might be climbable but honestly there doesn’t seem too be much ice at all.  What really sent me over the edge was that 8500 people showed up yesterday to explore “the ice caves”.

 

In my humble opinion the ice cave formations at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore are far “superior” and you don’t have to wait for the lakeshore ice to form to explore them.  On second thought, with 8500 visitors in one day maybe everyone SHOULD go the Apostles to check out the ice!

With an early am start and -6 degree temperatures as you can imagine the ice is still in excellent condition.  The lakeshore trail is firmly packed to every climb (thanks Ice Fest participants!) all the way to Dairyland.

The shore ice is still in and climbs are accessible along the lakeshore as well as Grand Island.  Even with the negative temperatures, surprisingly climbs varied today from bullet proof hard to totally soaked.

 

 

 

All in all a good day today with a report of great ice conditions, safe travel still available along the lakeshore ice and out to Grand Island, and most importantly only two ice climbers in the park today!