Matthiessen's Ice Cave

 

One of the highlights of the winter season is the freezing of the waterfalls of Starved Rock and Matthiessen State Parks. While the amount of seasonal moisture certainly affects the size and shape of Starved Rock's icefalls, the icefalls of Matthiessen State Park are almost always fully formed regardless of  precipitation. I believe this is due to the fact that the creek feeding the falls is always flowing and not fully dependent on the snow melt or rain. This makes for great icefalls in the winter. 

One of our favorite areas of Matthiessen is the canyon beyond Cedar Point. To visit this area, one needs to cross the creek, and at times, this can be a challenge. Some years it's flowing knee deep, other years it's frozen solid, this year it was frozen but had quite a bit of "rotten" ice on top due to overflow. Overflow is when a body of water freezes over, but the level of the water later rises and overflows onto the top of the ice. New ice forms, but it's not stable, and walking on the ice can be a hazard if that overflow ice breaks- here we would only get our feet wet, so it's more of a nuisance.

Once across the stream, two waterfalls appear in the distance, and both usually freeze up with plenty of space behind them, creating ice caves. At just the right time, one can relatively easily get behind and explore. Wait too long into the season and the opening will be too small to climb through.

 

This year, we hit it at the right time. The ice was covering the overhang of the canyon forming a cave, the openings were accessible, and the floor of the cave was frozen and not filled with water. It's an experience to venture into these caves, the ice is so interesting when it's backlit. Without ice cleats, it would be quite difficult to access these caves, and at times, impossible to even access the icefalls because of the slippery approach.

 

The rock overhang that makes these ice caves possible, is almost six feet tall, so when the ice forms on the floor, there's a ceiling of about five feet in some places, on down to four feet. Still, it's quite easy to access if you don't mind a bit of squeezing and climbing. Getting out is sometimes sketchy, but this year, the opening on the left side of the cave was large enough to walk through. Some years only one side is large enough, and the right side requires traversing over round, icy rock - something that's more difficult leaving than entering.