Canyon Creek Ice Cave, also known as Bragg Creek Ice Cave or Moose Mountain Ice Cave, is a small ice cave in limestone located in Kananaskis Country near the community of Bragg Creek, Alberta, Canada. Known to natives through prehistory, its 'discovery' is attributed to Stan Fullerton in 1905. Only twenty minutes west of the City of Calgary, Canyon Creek Ice Cave is a popular outing for visitors of all ages and experience. From the parking lot, the cave is visible as a tall black scar about three-quarters of the way up the mountain. It doesn't seem very distant, but the round trip, including a few minutes in the cold and dark, takes about 4 hours.
In recent years, the influx of visitors who were ill-prepared for a caving expedition resulted in the permanent closure of the road to the parking lot. There is now a new parking lot just off Highway 66, and then a 7 km hike along the old road to get to the former parking area. This has lengthened the trip from the old 4 hour trek to a more challenging 6 hour hike for experienced hikers and 8 hours for inexperienced hikers.
Since the closure of the road, the number of accidents on the way to, or inside of, the ice caves has reduced dramatically. Most hikers are now serious about experiencing the cave and now bring appropriate gear, including helmets, headlamps, food and water, and other safety equipment.
The cave was formed primarily by water enlarging fractures within the slightly soluble limestone, with its entrance considerably enlarged by large-scale frost wedging during freeze-thaw cycles, similar to the phreatic or vadose caves often found in Canada. Much of the cave has subsequently been sealed off by permanent ice, and during the winter months beautiful ice formations are sometimes seen near the entrance. The cave has large amounts of loose rock, and care should be taken when hiking to cave, as the approach slopes were the site of a fatality due to rockfall from careless hikers.
The cave has been subject to considerable vandalism and damage in its history, with spray paint markings and garbage left behind. Visitors should respect cave formations, and leave no garbage or human waste inside the cave.
Famous quotes containing the words canyon, creek, ice and/or cave:
“In a world that holds books and babies and canyon trails, why should one condemn oneself to live day-in, day-out with people one does not like, and sell oneself to chaperone and correct them?”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)
“It might be seen by what tenure men held the earth. The smallest stream is mediterranean sea, a smaller ocean creek within the land, where men may steer by their farm bounds and cottage lights. For my own part, but for the geographers, I should hardly have known how large a portion of our globe is water, my life has chiefly passed within so deep a cove. Yet I have sometimes ventured as far as to the mouth of my Snug Harbor.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“‘Line in nature is not found;
Unit and universe are round;
In vain produced, all rays return;
Evil will bless, and ice will burn.’
As Uriel spoke with piercing eye,
A shudder ran around the sky;”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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Hopes of high talk with the departed dead.”
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)