2/07/09 GO NOW! ICE CAVES, EAGLES AND WOLVES

Saturday, 8:00 AM. 35 degrees, wind SW, calm. Skies are overcast and hazy and the barometer predicts precipitation.
Neighbor Erick and I went to the ice caves off Meyers Beach Road yesterday, a repeat of a similar trip a year ago. To tell us apart in the photographs, I am the younger looking one. If you still can't tell, I have two ski poles. Last year it was frigid, windy and sunny, yesterday 30 degrees, cloudy and calm. The ice caves are magnificent and compelling, but always are seen in a somewhat different way. The trail, along shore and on lake ice, tended to be slippery, and in retrospect I would have worn snowshoes with cleats or Yak Tracks. I ended up being overdressed and sweaty, as it is a pretty long hike out and back, for us about four miles round trip. Of course one need only go a mile or so to the first caves. As it was, we could have walked another mile or more to go to the east end of the caves. I found it too slippery to go far into the caves, not wanting to slip and fall and have to slither on my hands and knees to more solid footing. Of course many visitors did go into the caves, some of which go back perhaps a hundred feet from the face of the cliffs. With melting going on one might also be a bit cautious of the huge ice stalactites that hang down from the cave ceilings.
When visiting the ice caves I would encourage you to take your time walking and really look all around, not just hurry to get in and out of caves. As Henry David Thoreau admonished, one must “saunter.” Erick spotted several eagle’s nests perched high up on a cliff face (note the one pictured), and there were many small red pine and birch trees (even some quite large) growing directly out of rock crevasses, without apparent help of soil. We saw, with aid of binoculars, two canines, either coyotes or wolves, running determinedly far out on the frozen wastes, probably to engage in mating (it looked like boy chasing girl, although she slowed up if he got too far behind). If you intend to visit the ice caves, I encourage you to do it soon, as weather and ice conditions can change abruptly.
We need to take recycles to the Bayfield Town of Russell Recycling Center out on Hwy 13, past the Rez, this morning, another small-town ritual.