Paris Ice Cave

Located just 20 miles from Garden City, Utah is Paris, Idaho and the beautiful Paris Canyon. This canyon offers primitive camping opportunities, hiking, ATV trails, and a unique geological location called the Paris Ice Cave.
Paris Ice Cave
The cave gets its name “Ice Cave” because the ice never melts, even in the hottest of summers. Water and runoff descends from the surrounding hills into the cave, creating the ice formations.
The recommended time to visit is late summer and early fall when the water dries out, making exploration of the cave easier. Visiting the Ice Cave in late spring is going to require a little more effort and preparation, as heavy snow and drifts will limit canyon access. We visited the Ice Cave in late May. With the snowfall below average during the winter of 2013/2014, and the unseasonably warm temperatures in early April, we were optimistic about reaching and enjoying the Paris Ice Cave. But just in case, we knew we’d be content with a nice relaxing drive through the beautiful canyon.
The Ice Cave is located 9.6 miles from the mouth of the canyon. The canyon road is a well-graded dirt road which is fairly passable for most vehicles during dry conditions. As we continued our journey up the canyon, we came to the only junction in the road that you must take to reach the cave. From this junction, a Forest Service sign marked the cave parking lot at 5 miles.
As we continued another 3 miles it was obvious that driving to the cave was no longer going to be an option, as large drifts of snow covered the canyon road. At this point we had a decision to make: turn around or load up the packs and continue our journey on foot. The day was perfect and the scenery was beautiful, so the decision was easy; we loaded up the packs and began our trek up the canyon road.
Paris Ice Cave
The hike up the canyon road consisted of a little elevation gain, walking through large patches of hard packed snow, and navigating around pools of water from the melting snow. Admittedly there was talk of turning around and visiting the cave another day. But we pushed on and finally reached the mouth of the Paris Ice Cave.
Visiting in late spring provided an even more unique experience, as the snow melting above was making its way through the cracks and consistently dripping into the cave and down the ice formations. The cave floor was solid ice and the sounds of the dripping and flowing water into the cave were not only a little eerie, but relaxing at the same time. A visit in late spring provides a glimpse into the ongoing forces that continue to transform the Paris Ice Cave.
If you want to experience the cave, and you’re willing to put forth the effort to reach the cave, visiting in late spring (May/June) will provide you with an awesome experience. But of course visiting at this time of year requires different gear, so make sure you’re prepared.
For an easier, more enjoyable visit, just wait until later in the summer and drive your ATV or vehicle right outside the cave entrance. Either way you choose to visit the Paris Ice Cave, it will be an experience that the whole family will enjoy and remember for many years to come.
As a side note, the Paris Ice Cave is beautiful in its own way. If you are searching for a cave that offers stalagmites, stalactites, and other beautiful formations for which underground caves are known, you may want to visit the Minnetonka Cave, which is located just 7 miles south of Paris, Idaho.
Paris Ice Cave
More Information:
Montpelier Ranger District
322 N. 4th Street
Montpelier, ID 83254
PHONE: 208-847-0375


Paris is a tiny town just over the Idaho border north of Garden City, Utah. There is a really cool tabernacle there, and a small museum, but little else. However, if you’re willing to drive 10 miles up a dirt road, you’ll find the Paris Ice Cave.

The cave was fairly busy– there were about 5 cars in the parking lot on the Saturday afternoon that we visited. But we did have the cave to ourselves for a few minutes. Make sure that you use the correct entrance going in. There are 3 possible entrances, though only 1 is kid friendly. The others lead to a shimmy down a narrow crack or worse. If you find the sign for Paris Ice Cave, there is a short trail just to the left of it. Follow this trail, which leads you down to the first cavern.

You can do the first cavern without any artificial light as it is small and open at both ends. There is even a wooden bridge to keep you up off the ice. Yes, there is ice, even on July 10th when we visited after a June filled with a record breaking number of 100+ degree days.

After the first cavern, the room opens up to open sky. To the right is a treacherous climb out of the cave, which comes out of a very narrow crack near the parking lot (it was all Dad could do to suck in and get through this crack, and he’s not TOO wide).

In the back of this “room” there is a small cove that leads to a dark crack in the back. This is the heart of Paris Ice Cave. It will also crack your head if you’re not careful as it is pretty low, and you can’t quite crawl through the ice and debris. This opens up to a rather large cavern with several pillars of ice that are really cool. You will definitely need a light source to be safe in this room. Our boys had headlamps and we had lanterns, and still it was tricky due to the slick, cluttered floor.

There were some huge chunks of ice. Watch your step. The ground is slippery!

At the back of this cavern, there is a slopping trail up the snow. We wondered if we could climb out, as there is some light from above. This seems possible, but it would be unwise as it is a true scale. Probably the best method would be to place hands and feet on either wall and shimmy up, but it would be quite a shimmy, and no children would be making it.

We took a few pictures in this dark cavern, but none of them turned out very well. Then we turned around and went out the way we came in. We enjoyed this cave as much as any we’ve been in. So if you make a trip to Bear Lake, and you get tired of the beach, head up to Paris for the Ice Cave.

To find the Paris Ice Cave, take 2nd South in Paris and head west toward Paris Canyon. There is a sign that says Paris Canyon Road before you turn. Drive about 10 miles on a dirt road until you find a parking lot and a sign that says Paris Ice Cave. Pretty easy! If you want to check on the condition of the roads (sometimes they are too muddy to drive out far enough to the cave), call the Forest Service @ 208-847-0375.