All I know is that there is supposed to be an Ice Cave here... We saw no signs or "you are here"…read morebut the map said we were so, off we went hoping we were on the right track to find it. This was my first time in the snow, and in the middle of winter in Alaska, in below 0 temps, you can imagine how cold and how high the snow was. Took me a bit to learn how to walk in it - every time I stepped, I would fall having my leg under snow up to my knees. At first I thought I would have to go back but I did not quit! Eventually, and with my bf's help, I got the hang of it, and now the challenge was to find the right direction to go. We only saw a set of footprints in front of us, but not to much later, those people came our way saying they were heading back. Still, we kept going. Found another group of people, better equipped with snow shoes, which helped make a path for us to the cave. To rest for a bit (it's quite a walk) and to take advantage of the high snow, I made my first ever snow angel! Finally, after about 2.5 miles we got to the cave and what a sight it was! You immediately notice the different shades of blue ice formed on the ceiling of the cave, almost like gemstones. The frost on every crevice, and how amazing nature is. The challenge of getting there, the freezing temperature, or the fact that we had to walk back, all went away and was completely worth every second. Having this "into the wild" Alaska adventure is something I will never forget. It was absolutely breathtaking and a truly fulfilling experience. Now, if you want to be 100% sure you are going the right way, and not walk, we did see, on our way back, a guy with a snow machine taking people to the cave and back, for $10/ person. Apparently he setup shop later in the day when we were already deep in the cave. But honestly, glad we didn't see him when we arrived, the process to get there made seeing the cave even more magical.

Sometimes when you go off the beaten path, you see interesting things. Sometimes you realize why…read moreno one else bothered to go because it's a waste of time In the case of the Castner Ice Cave, it is very surprising that no one else had been there that day. We were staying in Fairbanks so we weren't near the many Glacier options that there are in southern Alaska. BUT, the one glacier I heard about, Castner, supposedly had a ice cave created by the summer stream that flowed out of it. with a bit of research I found the way to get near it so we went. after hours of driving we found the spot to park on the side of the road. We grabbed our hiking poles and took off up a frozen stream. it was amazing to me that we could only see one other set of foot prints going that way. We caught the person coming back saying that the snow drifts were too high, but at about that time another group of 4 caught up to us and they trudged forward in front of us. We had already exhausted ourselves after a couple miles of it(a couple of the other people had snow shoes to make it easier on them), but we had no quit in us that day. When we finally cleared a turn and saw the gaping maw that was the ice cave, it was shocking. everything was ablaze in white, except the blackness that was the cave. once inside the beautiful blues of the ice were apparent. we soaked it in but didn't stay long, we had a long hike back to the car. Besides, our true glory that day came from making it out into the wilderness of Alaska. It was just bonus seeing something as rare as the Castner Ice Cave.