This trail is located off of I-25. Take exit 161 and take Hwy 105 to Palmer Lake. I don't remember exactly what road we turned left on, but from google it looks like Glenway Street. I think we got these directions online somewhere, but I can find it now. You will see a gorgeous victorian estate on the right with a yellow victorian house and several out buildings. I loved going this way just to see this! It was for sale when I was there -- but at $2.7 million with furnishings included it was out of my price range. lol! I keep it in mind for when I win the lottery. Later I found out this is Estemere Estate and there is a website with the history and photos online (http://www.estemere.net/). It's even got a small chapel and potential for an art studio. But I digress. I understand there is a trailhead from other descriptions on how to get there. This may be the better way to go. We did have to park near the Victorian estate and walk up the road to the gate where the trail goes up. We could see that others were hiking up from another location -- probably the trailhead. (-;
The first half mile is a grueling hike up hill until you reach the first reservoir. There is a second reservoir further up that we hiked to. Apparently to get to the ice caves you take the less developed trail to the right. We went left and explored some trails over that way and so never got to the ice caves. This is a really pretty hike. Close to the reservoir there is an entirely different ecosystem than elsewhere we've been in our mountain hikes. It is really wonderful. There are lots of blooming flowers this time of year and butterflies. There were several people fishing and walking about.
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