Ice Cave

Tiny sign that indicates the direction to the Ice Cave.
Note all the cars parked on the roadside

    Someone asked me the other day, "So what do you do in the winter months?" Well, we do continue to explore different areas nearby and activities during the winter months.

     On Saturday, January 4 we travelled an hour to Midland (near Norton) to see the Midland Ice Cave. Now, just walking from the car to the ice cave is a great workout. It may be a 4.5 to 5 km round trip, but much of it is uphill and over rough tracks. In the recent past, vehicles like tractors have been driven over the dirt path leaving many large ruts in the dirt, making it more difficult to walk. By the time we reached the cave, we had unzipped our coats. It was a lovely day so obviously, we had too many layers on. There were many people visiting the cave. It is so nice to see that people are taking advantage of seeing a winter phenomenon.

The uphill road ran alongside of a farm field.
I assume that the crop was corn.

The start of our 45 minute walk toward the cave.

There were quite a number of people visiting the cave
that day. Here you can see the people coming and going.

Almost to the top of the road

Now turn left and walk through the forest to the cave.

"This way!" I hope that the person who left this glove did not
get cold and numb fingers

At last the ice cave. It is down in a gully. Notice people waiting
to climb up the icy slope to go in through an opening in the ice.

     Once at the cave you must climb down a steep icy slope. Thankfully, there was a rope strung up that we could hold to assist us going down and up the slope.

Here I am climbing backwards down into the gully.
Even holding onto the rope, it was slow going due
to the slippery condition.

Behind this sheet of ice is a small area (cave) closed in by the
ice wall. In the summer it must be a beautiful looking water fall.

To go into the cave you have to climb up the icy slope on the left.
A rope and a small log have been placed on the slope to assist
you in getting up into the cave.

     There were many people at the cave, most of them young people. I watched them with interest. Most of them had cleats on their boots and they were having a difficult time climbing up the icy slope, falling on their knees and sliding back down and having to start again. Last winter I fell on the icy road and damaged my knee so having seen the trouble others were having going up the slope,  I decided to skip viewing the interior of the cave. Al did get up and took some photos.

Here is the inside of the cave behind the ice wall.

 

Al peeking out before sliding down
the slope to exit the cave.

On our walk back to the car we found
a hollowed out tree. A lovely walk!

     We had a lovely afternoon. It was an interesting site with its beauty and its challenges. The weather was good. The walk to the cave was good exercise and I would highly recommend this destination to everyone. This was one of our winter activities. Click here to see a hiking group visit the caves in 2017.

     Of course, during the winter months Al continues to play tennis and sing with the local Barbershop chorus while I continue with my spiritual routine and my weekly workouts at GoodLife.

     What else do we do? Well, we have signed up for a variety of activities and events at this year's FROSTival in Fredericton. We will inform you of the activities we have completed. We are also looking into other winter festivals in nearby towns. Is there a winter festival in your area? Check it out!