The Clear Creek Ice Cave

Yesterday was the Clear Creek Metro Park Metro Five-0 hike to the ice cave. It is a really popular hike: 51 people tried to sign up for 30 slots.

The only thing missing was the ice (mostly).

At the end of December and early January, we’d accumulated a foot of snow, but then a warm and rainy spell melted it all. However, the past week we’ve had really cold nights, and the location of the ice cave doesn’t get much sun, so we had hopes of at least some ice.

There was a bit, but not like there was two years ago, as in this picture I took then.

In the Ice Cave Looking Out (February, 2011)

But it was still a great hike, with the temperature starting just above freezing.

Here’s most of the group at Starner House before the hike.

Starting the Hike

It started with a climb up what used to be an old township road, now just a fairly narrow path.

Heading Uphill

Once we got to the top, we more or less headed back down, all the way to Clear Creek. Just before the ice cave, here we are looking up at some of the rocks.

Looking Up With Our Backs to Clear Creek

Then we went in to the ice cave. Fortunately, my footwear (none) was completely waterproof.

I climbed up and took this shot down into the cave.

Under the Ice Cave

See? Ice.

And here is Marcey, the Clear Creek Naturalist who led the hike.

Our Park Naturalist

There was a fair bit of water heading over the falls. Here’s one portion of it.

Part of the Lower Falls

And here’s the upper falls.

The Upper Falls

Once I got up high, I took a few shots looking down and downstream. Here’s the overhang of the ice cave. The people give you a feel for the size of it.

Overlooking the Ice Cave

And looking even farther out, where it opens up right onto Clear Creek.

The Entrance

As always, a fun hike. Also, as always, I got a few questions about how long it took to be able to hike barefoot like this (while I’ve been doing this for about 16 years, it takes about 6 months of working on it to be able to handle most stuff). I also had a fair bit of interest in my maps of the area, which can be seen here.

[You can click on most of the pictures for larger versions.]