About 38,700 people visited Lake Superior’s famous ice caves during the nine-day stretch it was open this past winter. And during that time, the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore brought in about $140,000 from its new $5 visitor fee.

Julie Van Stappen, the lakeshore’s chief of resource management, said they spent around $95,000 of that on extra staffing, supplies and equipment. She said the leftover cash will help them prepare for next year.



“We really need to bring some people in a few days before we open the caves just to help us out. There’s a tremendous amount of work that goes into just getting everything ready to open. This will enable us to do that before we’re able to collect additional revenue," she said.

Van Stappen said a portion of the money will also go toward putting in a bridge on the mainland trail to improve access at Meyers Beach.