Shoshone Ice Caves

One of the things on my "to-do" list for this summer was to hit several of the geological sites here in Idaho. I learned quite a bit about them and the "science" behind them in my geology class that I took several months back and knew I wanted to go check them out with my "new" eyes. Because it is so close, our first stop was the Shoshone Ice Caves. My nephew, Talon, has been visiting and so we took him along for the ride.

Not to be boring here, but I'm going to get a bit of my "science" ON....at least the information I actually retained from the class. Science is NOT my forte.

Forever ago, Idaho was covered in hundreds of volcanoes. In fact, much of the rocks that are around here are volcanic. Of course, they are all pretty much sedentary now and most of them appear as simple hills now. Often, the lava travels underground forming "tubes" in the rock. That is what the Ice Cave is. It is a low pressure wind tunnel underground. The rocks there are porous, meaning they will absorb the water. When the rocks can no longer absorb any more water, there is run-off. Underground....the water accumulates and because of the air traveling through the tunnel, the water freezes.

So, the Ice Cave isn't necessarily a cave....it's a lava tube filled with ice. Make sense? Ok....moving on.

It was a really hot day when we went...about 87 degrees. What was the temperature down in the Ice Cave? Well....it was freezing. :0) 30 degrees. I'm glad they had jackets available for us, because we dressed for the outdoor weather.....not for winter. I should have thought smarter on that one.

I love this picture of Mackenzee....she was so determined to hike out and about without any help whatsoever. Poor Jaysen was so paranoid about it though. There are a lot of ledges out in volcanic rock country....and this little girl showed NO FEAR. The stern look on her face in this picture captures exactly what her stubborn mood was that afternoon. :0)
This is the entrance to the cave....or the first set of stairs going down into the cave. The walls were lined with sparkly ice and we walked on a wooden bridge set up over the ice floor in the cave. The lava tube is 1,000 feet long and is actually one of the natural wonders of the world.

Our tour guide climbed out onto the slab of ice at the end of the tunnel to show how thick and sturdy the ice was. The kids were excited that they were allowed to touch the ice and put their feet on it.

The boys especially enjoyed the tour and were amazed at all of the things they learned. Talon even spotted a red bellied lizard next to the trail. Of course, Landon then begged me to have a pet lizard of his own. {Not gonna happen!}

Because the landmark contains formations that are millions of years old, they have giant "dinosaurs" out front. Landon was desperate to climb on the biggest one and was fairly annoyed at his mother when he was told that it was against the rules. {I'm telling you....I totally win the Meanest Mom award!}

So, one landmark checked off the list and only oodles more left. Though I have been to Balanced Rock oodles of times, neither of my kids have seen it so I'd like to take them out there to hike around a bit. There's also the Hagerman Fossil Beds that are fairly close. Craters of the Moon is at the top of my list but I'm not sure I will make it there this summer. :0( Hopefully something changes so we can check out this other volcanic area.

Didn't know I was such a geek did you? I know....but Landon loves this kind of stuff and is extremely interested in science. I want him to continue to enjoy it and not realize how much I truly hate it. :0)