GLACIERS OF MOUNT RAINIER 



that divides the Ingraham from the Emmons Glacier 

 to the north. So extensive is this wedge that it car- 

 ries on its back several large ice fields and interglaciers, 

 some of which, lying far from the beaten path of the 

 tourist, are as yet unnamed. Separating them from 

 each other are various attenuated, pinnacled crests, all 

 of them subordinate to a main backbone that runs 

 eastward some 6 miles and terminates in the Cowlitz 

 Chimneys (7,607 feet), a group of tall rock towers 

 that dominate the landscape on the east side of Mount 

 Rainier. 



Most of the ice fields, naturally, lie on the shady 

 north slope of the main backbone ; in fact, a series of 

 them extends as far east as the Cowlitz Chimneys. One 

 of the lesser crests, however, that running southeast- 

 ward to the upland region known as Cowlitz Park, also 

 gives protection to an ice body of some magnitude, the 

 Ohanapecosh Glacier. Considerably broader than it 

 is long in the direction of its flow, this glacier lies on a 

 high shelf a mile and a half across, whence it cascades 

 down into the head of a walled-in canyon. Formerly, 

 no doubt, it more than filled this canyon, but now it 

 sends down only a shrunken lobe. The stream that 

 issues from it, the Ohanapecosh River, is really the 

 main prong and head of the Cowlitz River. 



The largest and most elevated of the ice fields east 

 of Little Tahoma is known for its peculiar shape as 

 Fryingpan Glacier. It covers fully 3 square miles of 

 ground and constitutes the most extensive and most 

 beautiful interglacier on Mount Rainier. It originates 

 in the hollow east side of Little Tahoma itself and 

 descends rapidly northward, overlooking the great 

 Emmons Glacier and finally reaching down almost to 

 its level. It is not a long time since the two ice bodies 

 were confluent. 



The eastern portion of the Fryingpan Glacier drains 

 northeastward and sends forth several cascading tor- 

 rents which, uniting with others coming from the lesser 



Q 225 



