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Mt. Rainier National Park
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Glaciers
Mt. Rainier is rightfully know for its elaborate glacier system which covers much of the flanks of the mountain. The glaciers on the mountain are the jewels in its crown. The mountain is covered by 34-38 square miles of glacial ice totaling 1 cubic mile of ice.
The glaciers range in thickness from 50 to 500 feet. They provide water for the many uses, including irrigation and the generation of hydroelectric power. The glaciers feed 5 major river systems via glacial meltwater.
The mountain features 26 major glaciers. This is the the largest glacial system on any single peak located in the United States outside of Alaska. These 26 glaciers are living, moving, and active. There are 15 other non-moving, stagnant icy remains of other glaciers in the park.
Glaciers form when the amount of snowfall which accumulates during a winter season surpass the amount of snow that melts in the warmer seasons. To be considered an official glacier, a body of ice must be moving. Signs of movement which differentiate glaciers from ice fields, include things such as crevasses and ice flowlines. Large ice sheets which do not move are considered snowfields. The typical glacier may move 1 foot per day. As the glaciers flow down the mountain, they may encounter "cleavers" which are are walls of stone or hardened lava which separate them.
At one time glaciers may have reached all the way from the mountain to the Puget Sound. However, the ice which is found on the mountain today is not a remnant of Ice Age glaciers, but rather arose during the Little Ice Age which reached its climax around 1840.
6 of the glaciers--Nisqually, Tahoma, Kautz, Ingraham, Emmons, and Winthrop--radiate from the summit of the mountain. In addition to their value as sources of water, described above, the glaciers are also sources of outstanding scenery and great beauty.
The effects of glacier on the mountain have been extreme. In fact, 1/3 of the mass of Mt. Rainier has been scraped away by glaciers.
Nisqually Glacier One of the most often viewed and studied glaciers in the park, and one of the most studied glaciers in the nation, is the Nisqually Glacier. Good views of this glacier can be obtained from a trail in the Paradise area as well as from various points along the road which runs from the southwest entrance to the park to Paradise. These perspectives also afford views of a variety of moraines, which are ridges or piles consisting of loose, broken rock which have been carried along by glaciers and left in a position as the glacier retreated.
The Nisqually Glacier is currently about 4-5 miles long, encompassing 2 square miles, and is some 400 feet deep at its deepest point. It currently "flows" down the mountain from about 6-12 inches per day during the summer, and it drops some 10,000 feet from its top to its bottom. The Nisqually Glacier is 7th in size among the glaciers of the park.
The glacier originates at the 14,000 foot level of the mountain at a permanent snowfield. By 8000 feet the glacier has expanded to a width of approximately 1 mile.
The Nisqually Glacier receded dramatically in the first half of the 20th century. It has made small advances and retreats in the years since 1951, advancing some from the early 1960's to the mid-1980's. It has receded nearly 2 miles from the time it was first observed in 1840. It is currently about 5 miles long.
As can be seen, the Nisqually Glacier is covered with rocks over much of the length of the glacier. They may be especially dirty and rocky near their toe. This makes the surface of the glacier somewhat indistinguishable from the surrounding moraines and land surface. Since glaciers may shed ice, rock, and other materials at their terminus, and so close-up encounters with a glacier are very dangerous. Within the glacier the abrasion of rocks in its bed create a fine-grained sediment.
Some of the best views of the Nisqually Glacer and the beginnings of the Nisqually River are from Ricksecker Point, reached via a side road off the main road leading from Longmire to Paradise. This feature was named for Eugene Ricksecker, a civilian engineer who was employed by he Army Engineer Corps. Ricksecker surveyed and oversaw the construction of the original road to the Paradise Valley between 1903 and 1910. Ricksecker was among the first to engineer in such a way as to preserve the aesthetic qualities of the area without threating safety or sacrificing sound engineering principles.
For potential visitors, ParkVision recommends "Story Behind the Scenery" guides and "Trails Ilustrated" maps.
In the picture below it can be seen that the terminus of the glacier is presently a ways above the bridge which crosses the Nisqually River. This represents a considerable retreat from its position in the 1830's when the snout of the glacier reached about 900 feet to a full quarter mile below the bridge seen below. That was the furtherest extent of the Nisqually Glacier sine the Pleistocene. In 1857 the glacier just reached the point of the present bridge.
Other Glaciers On the west flank of the mountain the Puyallup Glacier is found, originating near the summiti n the Sunset Amphitheater. The snout of the Puyallup Glacier is perched on a hanging valley.
South of the Puyallup Glacier, also on the west side of the mountain, are a pair of glaciers, known as The South Tahoma and the Tahoma Glaciers. These rivers of ice separated in 1938.
A smaller glacier located on the south side of the mountain, the Kautz Glacier is located southwest of the Nisqually Glacier and west of the Wilson and Nisqually Glaciers. This glacier advanced some 500 feet after 1966.
East of the Nisqually Glacier is a smaller formation known as The Paradise Glacier. This glacier is is currently retreating. It was once known for its interesting ice caves, although these have now disappeared.
North and above the Paradise Glacier is as larger ice formation known as the Cowlitz Glacier. It is separated at higher elevations form another large glacier, the Ingraham Glacier, by a ridge known as Cathedral Rocks.
Dominating the eastern face of the mountiain is the Emmons Glacier. This glacier is the largest on Mt. Rainier. It is also the largest glacier in the continental United States. The ice of this glacier covers some 4.4 square miles. This glacier descends a distance of almost 2 vertical miles from it highest point near the summit of Mt. Rainier to its terminus.
The best views of the park area available from the Sunrise Area. The glacier contains about 23.8 billion cubic feet of ice. It takes up 4 square miles of the mountain's surface.
The terminus of the Carbon Glacier is at 3500 feet. This makes it the lowest of any glacier in the continential United States. At 3.1 square miles, this is the 3rd largest glacier on the mountain. It actually has the greatest glacial volume--0.2 square miles--and stretches 5.7 miles in length. This glacier has retreated less than any other glacier on Mt. Rainier.
The Carbon Glacier is 4.5 miles long. It currently ends at about an altitude of 3500 feet, where the terminus of the glacier is considered to be the lowest of that of any glacier in the continguous states.
The Winthrop Glacier can be seen from the Sunrise area. It has the second largest area of Mt. Rainier's glaciers at 3.5 square miles.
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