Big Four Ice Caves Hike

One of the first things we did the first weekend here was hit the REI store to get a few hiking backpacks. We plan on doing a lot of hiking as a family and wanted to start investing in things that we'll use a lot. Summer and Mason wanted their own, but we told them they had to first prove to us that they could handle doing a few hikes first :)

We made our way to Mountain Loop Highway and Sean decided to take us on the Big Four Ice Caves trail. It was a great kid-friendly trail that was only 2.2 miles round trip. Perfect starter trail for the kiddos.

Fun in the parking lot area!

Entrance to our trail :)

Not long after we got started we see this sign . . . .

If you can't read the sign, it says "Avalanche Danger! For your safety, do not go near the base of the mountain."

We took some pictures along our way to the ice caves. The kids enjoyed all of it.

Crossing a stream. 

The stream.

Lots of tall trees & wreckage of avalanches.

Avalanche zone time.

And we are getting closer :)

Kids checking out the stream water. I guess it was really cold!

After crossing the bridge in the picture above, we finally hit the ice cave area that we wanted to see. The kids thought it was pretty cool. The closer you got to it, the colder it was. Even Noah wished he had a jacket.

Standing right in front of the ice cave (very cold there!)

Look close. The family is still in front of the cave, but
 this photo captured more of the size of the cave.

Kids playing in the snow a little.

After freezing our tails off in front of the cave, we walked across the way and let the kids have a quick snack so no one would get grumpy on the way back :)

Then I snapped a few shots of them running around and enjoying nature and our surroundings.

Mason following his big brother, Noah!

Summer running to catch up with the boys.

Pretty!

We had driven about 50 minutes to get to the trailhead for this trail and it's always nice to hear the kids say it was worth the drive. Although 50 minutes isn't too far to go, just remember that these kids just completed 30+ hours in a van the weekend before and just didn't want to get in the van to do anything!

And to finish off the day, some nice couple offered to take a picture of our family. What a great way to start off our time here in WA!