ICE CAVE CROWDS

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ICE CAVE VISITORS VEHICLES LINED HWY. 13 YESTERDAY

FROZEN SIOUX RIVER ABOVE THE BIG ROCK

Sunday, 8:00 AM.  15 degrees F, wind WSW, light with stronger gusts.  The sky is overcast and it has begun to snow, lightly.  The humidity is 79% and the barometer is beginning to fall, standing now at 30.22". Yesterday was gorgeous, today not so much.
   Not finding definitive information on whether the Ice Caves at Myers Beach were open, we headed out yesterday after lunch to see for ourselves.   Wow, were they open!  Vehicles were lined along the north side of Hwy. 13 for several miles  both east and west of the park entrance road.  BART busses were shuttling visitors from remote parking lots.  The road was clogged with hikers heading for the caves.
   The line of vehicles went almost to Cornucopia, and when we got there we decided to take Hwy. C  to Washburn, rather than turn around and wend our way back through all the congestion.  That gave us an opportunity to skirt Washburn itself and drive past the Sioux River on Big Rock Road.  The river was isolated, frozen and beautiful; and then we stopped at the beach to let Buddy stretch his legs.
   The Ice Caves are a boon to local businesses when they are open.  I imagine the Village Inn at Cornucopia was filled up for dinner, and that the bar did a land office business.  But it's all too crowded for me, unless one goes first thing one morning, but even then there will be school groups.  The parking and crowds are too much like going to a Green Bay Paekers or a Milwaukee Brewers game for my outdoor tastes.