Ice caves at Rifle Mountain Park a winter jewel for many

RIFLE, Colo. (AP) - Walls of limestone tower above Rifle Creek as it runs through Rifle Mountain Park. Water flows down from the top of these cliffs on its way to the creek, which eventually runs into the Colorado River.

But not all of it reaches Rifle Creek right away, especially at this time of year. It’s from December until the end of February, typically, that walls of ice form outside of the caves thanks to the daily cycles of warmth and bitter cold.

“It’s all as a result of the freeze-and-thaw cycles in the park,” said Wayne Edgeton, the assistant director of Rifle Parks and Recreation. “And plenty of people make their way to see them.”

Rifle Mountain Park has become well-known not only for its rock-climbing terrain during the summertime but for the ice caves that form during the winter. It’s a sure bet that climbers will be out on the ice every weekend until the middle of March, which is when warmer temperatures make ascending the walls of ice a safety issue, the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent reported (https://tinyurl.com/mk2a9w7).

Still, plenty of people make their way to the ice caves to simply go inside them and not necessarily to climb their walls. It makes for an entertaining day trip for people who have never seen, or experienced, something like that.

“It was really cool,” said 20-year-old Lauren Langley of Grand Junction, who saw the ice caves for the first time Jan. 1 after moving into the area from Georgia two years ago. “There is nothing like this where I grew up, and being able to see and be inside something like that was just awesome.”

Four ice caves - the Ice Palace, Soul On Ice, Stone Tree and The Final Curtain - are inside of the park. The Ice Palace and The Final Curtain are the most visible and accessible from the main dirt road leading up to Coulter Lake Guest Ranch on the north end of the park.

One cave extends just more than 30 yards in length, which, in January, is not easy to navigate because of the continued wet water runoff coming over the thick ice of the cave floor.

It’s something that changes day to day and never looks exactly the same. The ice turns a soft blue color because it absorbs all colors of the visible light spectrum except blue.

There’s no cell reception from Rifle Gap dam north, so someone needs to know that you’ll be there or to have someone to tag along with you on the trail in the unlikely case something bad happens.