Ice Caves, Ice Curtains, and the Michigan Ice Fest
Near Munising, Michigan
When most travelers picture Pictured Rocks they imagine summer blue water, but this coast may be even stranger in the deep freeze. As winter clamps down, the water that seeps endlessly through the cliffs stops flowing and starts building, freezing layer on layer into enormous curtains and columns of ice in shades of blue, gold, and glassy clear. West of town, in the Rock River Canyon, the famous Eben Ice Caves form where water pours off overhanging ledges and freezes into walls you can actually walk behind, lit from outside through translucent ice.
Out on Grand Island and along the shore near Sand Point, whole cliff faces turn to frozen waterfalls. That transformation made Munising one of the great ice climbing destinations in the country. The most famous formation, a broad sheet of ice climbers simply call the Curtains, is gentle enough for beginners.
Every winter the town hosts the Michigan Ice Fest, believed to be the oldest ice climbing festival in the United States. It grew from a single trip by four climbers in nineteen ninety to a gathering that now draws around a thousand people and professional athletes from around the world. Bring cleats, mind the ice, and the frozen coast rewards you.
