The Ultimate View Point At The Big Four Ice Caves

We’ve always wanted to visit the Big Four Ice Caves in Washington, so after finding out that this was a dog friendly trail and only a two hour drive from Seattle…we finally decided to make our way to the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and visit this natural wonder! Now we are usually apprehensive about hiking popular trails like this one that sees about 50,000 visitors per year, but we went when it was raining…so there were fewer people and more opportunities to experience the natural beauty of this 2.2 mile roundtrip hike that led us through a gorgeous forest and ended at one of the most eye opening viewpoints we’ve ever seen. We’re talking a mountain view with waterfalls cascading from the cliffs down to snow caves that are actually under an avalanche chute! Many people we encountered were respectful and stayed on the trail, but as you can see from the photos, despite the signs that warned of the danger of being near the caves, there were still quite a few people that went off trail to get closer. We didn’t see anyone go inside the caves (thank goodness), but we did see quite a few people standing outside of the caves and even some that allowed their children to climb the snow and ice! Honestly, seeing that type of carelessness was frustrating considering it doesn’t take a lot for the caves to collapse and break off truck sized shards of ice and rock that can travel several feet which it has in the past causing many injuries and even death. We found a video from a few years ago showing this cave partially collapsing (luckily with no injuries), and it is truly frightening which you can view here! So if you decide to visit which we definitely think you should because it really is cool to see in person, please stay on the trail and just use a zoom lens!

By the way, we wanted to mention that Prana had her spay surgery a few weeks ago which is why we had a significant lapse between blog posts…this ice caves hike was pre-surgery. Thankfully, there were no complications, and we are so glad that we don’t have to watch her like a hawk or put that awkward cone on her head anymore. She can finally run, jump, and play as much as she wants to which is a great thing because we were pretty sure she was starting to get angry at us for not taking her out of the city and into nature. So new adventures with our puppy are coming, and we can’t wait to share them with you all! Have a wonderful rest of the week and a great weekend!