Gold Basin & Big Four Ice Cave
We had an overnight at Gold Basin Campground just about an hour and a half east of Seattle. We went with another parent and her 4 yr old son, so the kids had one more child to pretend to shoot. They all had a ball, and then the next day, we went to Big Four Ice Cave -- a glacier-like structure at the foot of a mountain. Every winter, there are several avalanches in the area, so there is a build up of snow and ice. Then in the summer, the ice melts from the bottom up, forming caves. It was a good mile up to this attraction, just right for 4-5 year olds. Very cool thing to see, too.
The campground was well maintained, and there was a choice of sites midweek. The only problem was that the best sites were the farthest away from the flush toilets. I, personally, am not crazy for outhouses. We had lots of long walks to the bathroom, and one final drive over at the end of the day.
All the sites were interesting, but the driest ones were nearest the river. The river was rather shallow and there were lots of interesting rocks to look at and stack up into interesting formations. The kids explored the first day, and went wading the second day.
If you ask the kids, their favorite part of camping is probably the campfire. They threw leaves and sticks in the fire to see what they look like when they burn.
After a night of camping, we went on the hike to the ice cave. Hikers are warned not to go in the caves, because the ice does melt and shift. We did not go in, but we went up close to the mouth of the cave, like everyone else visiting. It looked like if the cave were to collapse, it would simply collapse on itself, not come outward. However, at one point we heard a terribly loud rumbling roar from the cave. My friend and I each grabbed the smaller kids and took off (Michael ran on his own). It was the most frightening sound I can remember. Examining my pictures of the glacier before and after, I do not see any difference, but I'd guess that somewhere inside the ice shifted.
A most exciting day! See our slide show.
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on Thursday, July 14, 2005 at 12:29 PM.
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