What a difference a day makes! Arrived at the picnic area just when the sun theoretically set on Sunday and decided to go up to see the ice caves instead of attempting to drive to Darrington in the snow. The trail is in good condition except for the 0-4 inches of snow from the bottom to the top and occasional mud spots. Never seen the ice caves before, but it was quite awesome being in the large bowl with all the light reflected off the snow. We stayed well away from the caves and listened to and watched the avalanches for a few minutes before heading back through the dark woods. Reccomended, but may be buried in snow next week.

If you plan your hikes based on a ""breath-taking scenes per mile"" ratio, and don't want to hike to far, this trail is for you. The trail is only one mile long, the elevation gain a paltry 250 feet, but the end is magnificent; a firm snow field, ice caves, and the towering walls of Big Four. There are a few drawbacks: 1) There are a couple of mud-holes on the trail; my definition of a mud-hole being ""any area of mud in which your shoes/boots had best be tied tightly, or they're staying behind"" 2) The parking lot is very slippery 3) There is a boardwalk leading from the ""Big Four Ice Caves"" trailhead to the junction with the ""Big Four Picnic Area"" trail; this boardwalk is slicker than a televangelist. Although there are signs that advise parking at the picnic area, and although the Ice Caves Trailhead parking area is closed, like a fool I parked at the gate. My advice - PARK AT THE PICNIC AREA, TAKE THE TRAIL FROM THERE. The trails are apparantly roughly the same distance from the junction. 4) The trail is just too darned short for me. But it was perfect for the kids! 5) The Ice Caves are at the bottom of an avalanche chute; probably not the safest place to spend an afternoon. And a special note for those with insufficient will-power; don't go! The caves whisper their siren-song, beconing all comers to explore their icy interior. Too dangerous say all the Forest Service signs. The Perks: 1) With the exception of the icy boardwalk,two icy bridges (the bridges have hand rails), and two areas with mud-holes, the trail is in good shape. There is snow near the end, but it is not slick, well compacted, and the trail is well defined. 2) The trail progressively improves; first a short walk through forest, then the bridges over the South Fork Stillaguamish and an unnamed creek that drains from the snow field. About two-thirds of the way up, the trail re-crosses the unnamed creek at a point where it cascades from a narrow moss-laden chanel. Finally, of course, the entry to the snow-field; the Ice Caves are dwarfed by the walls of Big Four and Hall Peak. Prepare to spend five or ten awe struck minutes beneath these walls. The weather on this day was ideal, sunny and ""warm"" for this time of year.

We started the Big 4 Ice Caves hike around 10:40am. The trail was easy to walk, and soon when we got to the ice caves there was nobody there. The ice caves were very interesting. We checked out the edge of some of the caves and went in there just a little. Then we further explored the area and walked to the last cave, where we could see that a big chunkc of ice had collapsed at the end of the cave (next to the rock). It was obviously dangerous to go in these caves.

The trailway is well packed, mostly by snowshoers, and easy to follow. The snow load on the bridges is incredible. The main bridge over the South Fork Stilliguamish is piled six feet above the top of the handrails. That's almost 10 feet of snow along the entire length of the bridge! The bridge is nearly 100 feet long and about 4 feet wide, so the total volume of snow on the bridge is about 4000 cubic feet. This is equal to 6,912,000 cubic inches, but one gallon is equal to 231 cubic inches so that's 29,922 gallons. Now water weighs about 8.3554 lbs/gallon at 4°C under one atmosphere (760 mm Hg), but since this is snow and not water the density is some what less because of air pockets. If we estimate the density to be about .6321 of water, then that's a total of 158,031.5 pounds or 79 tons. That's equal to 29.85 Chevy Suburban LT 4x4s. Golly!

I went to the Ice caves on labor day, and it couldn't have been a more beautiful day. The trail is now open since the accident. The trail was perfect. The ice caves were much smaller than I had expected, and there was a small avalanche in the back of the caves over to the right when you are facing them. (the ones you have to walk over to) Please be careful if you go here, the caves are cracking and are ready to fall. Take care.