The Apostle Island ice caves in northern Wisconsin are this season’s hottest site-seeing destination for northern Minnesotans and Wisconsinites. Favorable ice conditions have allowed walking access to the sea caves for the first time in five years, and the sites inside the caves are truly spectacular.

How do I know this, since I haven’t gone myself? Well, these things have been in my Facebook feed (and the Facebook feed of most northern Minnesotans and Wisconsinites) for many weeks. It seems everyone and their cousin have made the trek to northern Wisconsin to hike into the caves.

The ice caves have attracted so much attention that people are parking as much as four miles from the lake access, which means a 12-mile round trip walk to see the caves … often with small children in tow.

This is patently insane, but I suppose comparable to walking around Disney World. Better here than there.