A relatively little-known spot in WA state, only an hour and a half or so from downtown Seattle, is the Big Four Ice Caves.  Located east of the small town of Granite Falls, on the Mountain Loop Highway, it's just a short 1 mile walk from the parking/picnic area to a verrrrry cool collection of natural ice caves in the late summer.  The trail winds through a small wetland area to begin with, then crosses over a river into a mixture of old and new growth evergreen forest.  It's definitely more of a "walk" than a hike, as elevation gain is less than 200'.  Views are limited on most of the trail........until you break out of the forest and onto a wide, open, rocky area at the base of sheer cliffs that rise close to 1000'' straight up.

The caves are formed each year when the snow begins to melt.  The top of the cliffs receive a fair amount of snow each winter, and regularly "shed" the excess over the cliffs in the form of small avalanches to the base area below; forming conical piles of snow several hundred feet high up against the cliffs.  As the weather warms and the snow melts on the top, the runoff creates beautiful little waterfalls all along the cliff faces.  This runoff then works its way down through the piles of snow, and creates small channels through the snow into the open.  As the runoff increases, and the weather warms, the channels become larger and larger and larger, until actual caves are formed!

When standing in front of the entrances, the temperature change is astounding!  Cold fog eerily blows out of the caves themselves; which, on the rare HOT day, is quite refreshing.  Care should be taken if entering the caves (or climbing on the piles of snow above) however, as the ice is unpredictable, and collapses have been known to occur!  Good hiking shoes are recommended , for even though the trail is a cruise, the rocky area is littered with odd sized rocks and boulders.  Recommended if you're ever in that area!!

At the top of this msg is a link to a photo I took (while taking the risk!) on the inside of one.........:)