Big Four Ice Caves

We took a day trip across Puget Sound to the Cascade Mountains to see some ice caves.  I saw a description of the ice caves on the internet when I was doing research on where to find the nearest glacier.  FYI - there are glaciers in Washington; they are just not as spectacular as the ones that calve into the fjords in Alaska. We had to take the pickup across the sound on the ferry and arrived in Edmonds, just north of Seattle.  From there we drove about an hour and a half to the Mount Baker - Snoqualmie National Forest. We drove 11 miles into the forest to the caves.  The drive was spectacular through a beautiful moss-covered rain forest.  We stopped beside a rushing mountain stream for a picnic.  

 After our picnic, we drove on to Big Four Mountain.

 

We hiked about a mile and a half through the forest by a beautiful stream. 

 Then we entered the avalanche zone.

The size and quantity of trees felled by snow avalanches was pretty impressive.

Apparently, these caves are formed by summer waterfalls running through the ice and snow that builds up from all the winter avalanches.