Crowds hike across frozen Lake Superior to see ice caves.
Crowds of people are flocking to northwestern Wisconsin
to trek on a frozen over Lake Superior to reach dramatic ice caves accessible
on foot for the first time in several years, courtesy of the long frigid
winter. The ice caves on Superior's shoreline are carved out of sandstone by
waves from the lake and derive their name from the icy freeze in winter that
makes them glisten with hoar frost, icicles and ice formations.
Reachable in warm weather by boat, the caves are
accessible in winter only by walking across ice when it is thick and stable
enough. It has been five years since the ice caves were last reachable in the
winter, officials said.
People have hiked over a mile across the ice in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore since officials declared the ice a 'low risk' on 15 January 2014, according to the park spokeswoman.
According to the research laboratory, The Great Lakes in
the last week reached its broadest ice coverage in 20 years at 88 percent, with
Lake Superior at about 95 percent.
The round-trip trek to the caves can take three hours or
more over a well-packed and slippery path with little cover to break the
sometimes fierce winds. Still, the number of visitors was expected to surge
over the three-day Presidents Day weekend, boosting tourist activity in such
towns as Bayfield, about 18 miles west of the caves.
Ice caves in frozen Lake Superior pictures