10/24/14 Bandera Ice Cave & Volcano Hike

I really enjoyed the hike through the lava landscape to the volcano cone and then down to the ice cave. Where there was very little ice left, sad to say. Though it is the end of summer, perhaps it builds up again over the winter. I have a ton of IR pics as well, just have to get them off the camera at some point.

 
Changing a truck tire at 2am....


I left Grants and headed to the Ice Cave, which I missed on previous tirps.


Lightning-struck tree








Cone of lava


Steep sides of the Bandera Volcano cone





Volcanic cone


Strange landscape





Roots with no trees


The trail








Looking down into a crevasse





The volcano cone











I loved all these amazing trees.





Like something out of Harry Potter

















This cave used to have ice in it....





Stairs to the Ice Cave
































There wasn't a lot of visible ice in the cave at the end of summer. The green is Arctic Algae.














The ceiling looks like it could come down at any moment


















After the Ice Cave I stopped and had a nice meal at Ancient Way Cafe.  I then headed to Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary to settle in for the night and get a good night's sleep prior to the Howl-o-ween celebration on Sat.


It's all boondocking/dry camping. The RV area is open and unshaded. The tent area is in the trees. I was a little sorry I didn't go there when I walked it later as there were some sites I would have fit. But later I was happy as they were partying down up in there with screaming kids an loud music pretty late into the night so I was happy where I was. And it was cool enough that the sun was welcome.



And it maybe wasn't the best neighborhood ;-)


Who needs GPS?






This guy was chasing another bird & they flew so close to me that one of them grazed my head with a wing. Neat!

It was a chilly night but the stars were incredible, the frequent serenades by the wolves and coyotes were just magical.