Box Canyon: Canyon Exhibit Panel

View the historic Box Canyon Bridge from this overlook.

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Location:

Box Canyon along Stevens Canyon Road

Amenities

1 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

Title: River-Carved Canyon

Main Text
Not every feature of this terrain is ice-carved. Box Canyon began as a crack in the granite bedrock. The canyon-cutting is ongoing: listen for the clatter of cobbles and sometimes boulders in the powerful current, battering the rock walls. 

The stream issues from the terminus of the Cowlitz Glacier, only three miles up canyon from here. Even at that distance the glaciers' influence on this valley is pervasive. Visible from bridge or trail, the river's milky color identifies it as glacial meltwater, opaque with rock fragments scraped from the mountain's flanks. 

Secondary Text
The glacier has melted back from this area, but the glacier-fed river continues to slice downwards through the rock. The gorge is 115 feet deep yet only thirteen feet wide at its narrowest point. 

Exhibit Panel Description
The text is located on the left side of the panel against a solid green background, while a vertically-oriented photo of the deep river canyon fills the right side of the panel. An arched stone bridge crosses the top of the canyon, above steep walls of grey rock with patches of moss. A caption at the bottom of the photo reads: "Box Canyon from river level". A smaller photo, oriented below the text on the left side but slightly overlapping the right side photo, shows a view of the narrow canyon looking down from above. Its caption reads: "Box Canyon from the highway bridge." A small box in the lower left corner of the panel reads "User Fee Project. Your Fee Dollars at Work. Entrance fees were used to produce this exhibit".

Visit This Exhibit Panel
This is one of three exhibit panels located at Box Canyon at the main canyon viewing area on the southeast side of the canyon. From the Paradise Road wye, Box Canyon is 8.7 miles east along Stevens Canyon Road, or 10.3 miles if heading west from the Stevens Canyon Entrance. Stevens Canyon Road is open to vehicles during the summer season only, typically June-September.