With all the cold this winter had given, the ice caves in Eben are bigger and better than ever. We had a small group hiking this round because so many of our members had other things happening--basketball, gymnastics, ice skating, sled dog races, etc.... So glad our group members are so active in doing things they love! Those that hiked this weekend had an ice treat for sure!
The Eben Ice Caves are formed much like the mini ice flows we witnessed at Laughing Whitefish Falls. What appears as though it would be a massive water fall in the summer is really more of a shallow swampy are and a creek whose water leaches through the sand stone below.
You will notice that the "cave" formations look like giant icicles. This is because they are! The icicles hanging from the top would be called stalactites--much like their rock cousins hanging from the tops of underground caves. Ice and rock stalactites form from similar processes. Here at the ice caves, water slowly dripping down a point and freezing make the stalactite of ice. In a rock cave underground, the water would slowly drip and evaporate leaving the mineral deposits behind forming the rock structures hanging from the ceiling. The icicles that appear to be growing from the ground up are called stalagmites. These structures form when water drips, hits the ground and freezes. This slowly builds a spike of ice (or rock in the case of underground caves). When a stalactite and stalagmite connect and form a pillar, it is called an "organ pipe."
The Eben Ice Caves are formed much like the mini ice flows we witnessed at Laughing Whitefish Falls. What appears as though it would be a massive water fall in the summer is really more of a shallow swampy are and a creek whose water leaches through the sand stone below.
You will notice that the "cave" formations look like giant icicles. This is because they are! The icicles hanging from the top would be called stalactites--much like their rock cousins hanging from the tops of underground caves. Ice and rock stalactites form from similar processes. Here at the ice caves, water slowly dripping down a point and freezing make the stalactite of ice. In a rock cave underground, the water would slowly drip and evaporate leaving the mineral deposits behind forming the rock structures hanging from the ceiling. The icicles that appear to be growing from the ground up are called stalagmites. These structures form when water drips, hits the ground and freezes. This slowly builds a spike of ice (or rock in the case of underground caves). When a stalactite and stalagmite connect and form a pillar, it is called an "organ pipe."