About a mile long hike, from the parking lot to the caves, is fairly moderate. The first 0.20 miles of it is through a privately owned field, the next 0.70 miles through the woods is pretty to say the least. And if one were to be fortunate enough to have had a snow fall the day before and just enough sunshine to light up the surroundings, the hike turns out to be something out of a Shakespearean novel! The last chunk of the trail is rather steep and having snowshoes can be quite handy. And if one were really fortunate, especially on a colder or a snowy day, fine folks from the nearby Rock River Cafe might be stationed at the trailhead with hot chocolate and other such survival food items.
As if Mother Nature was trying to reward my procrastination, a rather large crowd of visitors took to the dusty snowy trails to their cars and snow flakes started flying around. I took my time to wander in front of and behind these magnificent structures, and these are just a couple of the many that survived the post-processing. Just as I was about to pack my bags and hit the snowy trails myself, a group of what seemed like local high school students arrived at the scene. One of them looked certifiably more mature but his actions spoke otherwise – climbing up on these ice structures, trying to balance between two columns using his snowshoes, breaking/damaging several of these delicate formations via what can only be termed monkey acts was rather a hard pill to swallow.
While I understand that it’s hard for the local government and/or the school officials to police evey visitor to such areas that acts in a disrespectul manner, probably posting a more stingent warning might help a bit, just a bit, in preserving them for more people to see and enjoy.
EXIF and other information
| Archive ID | n2c_112-0830 |
| Date and Time | 2012-03-04 13:38:42 |
| GPS Date and Time | Image does not include relevant information |
| GPS Location | 46.38294 N, -86.94441 E, 830 ft (Goolgle Map: Pin | Directions) |
| Camera | Nikon D200 |
| Lens | AF DX Fisheye-Nikkor 10.5mm f/2.8G ED |
| Focal Length | 10.5 mm (35 mm equivalent: 15.0 mm) |
| Mode | Aperture-priority AE |
| Shutter Speed | 1/250 second(s) |
| Aperture | f/8.0 |
| ISO | 200 |
| Exposure Bias | 0 |
| Flash | No |
| Filters | None |
| Light Value | 13.0 |
| Hyperfocal Distance | 0.66 m |
| Focus Distance | 1.33 m |
| Depth of Field | inf (0.44 m - inf) |
| Field of View | 99.9 deg (3.18 m) |
| Tripod | Yes |
| Notes/Remarks | ±2 stop and HDR using Photomatix Pro |