BAYFIELD COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) – It’s a lot warmer than it was last January — and that means folks are not rushing to the Apostle Islands to see the majestic ice caves along Lake Superior.
It’s not cold enough to walk onto a two-mile ice path, the only way for people to get close to the tall ice formations. That means very little business for the places in Bayfield County that were packed with tourists at this time last year.
Cheryl O’Bryon of the Village Inn at Cornucopia says it’s “very, very quiet” right now — “a totally different world” from last winter.
Last year was the first time in 5 years that the public could walk up to the ice caves.
Social media spread the word internationally — and tourists overwhelmed the area, at a rate of up to 3,000 per weekend.
In some years, the ice caves manage to open for a couple weeks in February. Officials say it’s too early to tell if that will happen this year.
(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)
