Paradise Meadows: Nisqually Vista Exhibit Panel

The Nisqually Vista Trail provides excellent views of the Nisqually Glacier and Mount Rainier.

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Location:

Nisqually Vista Trail at Paradise

Amenities

2 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Scenic View/Photo Spot

Title: Ice in Motion

Main Text
The glacier's features are all signs of perpetual motion. It takes centuries for snow that falls near the summit to flow and slide miles to the glacier terminus. Crevasses are huge cracks that form as the glacier glows over knobs or ridges in the bedrock and along valley walls. 

Ice moves several feet each day through Nisqually Icefall - more in summer and less in winter. While glacial movement is imperceptible to the human eye, you can hear signs of movement by listening for tumbling ice on the glacier and falling rocks from sun-warmed valley walls. 

Secondary Text
Summer rockfall can accumulate on the glacier's surface, sometimes completely disguising the ice. In winter snow covers the debris and turns the glacier white again. 

Exhibit Panel Description
A single photo of Mount Rainier with the Nisqually Glacier curving down its slopes fills the exhibit panel. The main text stretches across the top third of the photo, over the summit of the mountain and against a blue sky. A small photo overlaps the main photo to the right of the main text with the secondary text to the left of the small photo. The photo shows a detail of a glacier broken by large crevasses. Several climbers, no bigger than tiny black dots, skirt one of the crevases. A caption at the top of the photo reads "Crevasses dwarf a group of climbers". Above the photo in the upper right corner of the panel is a circular graphic crossed out by a slashed line of a boot stepping on a wildflower. Text next to the graphic reads "Protect Fragile Meadows, Stay on Trails". A second small photo overlaps the main photo in the lower left side of the panel. In the photo, two people stand next to the terminus of a glacier, a wall of dirty ice with a river flowing out from underneath the ice. A caption at the bottom of the photo reads "Nisqually River originates from the terminus of the Nisqually Glacier". A small box in the lower right corner of the exhibit panel reads "User Fee Project. Your Fee Dollars at Work. Entrance fees were used to produce this exhibit".

Visit This Exhibit Panel
This exhibit panel is located along the Nisqually Vista Trail at an overlook with a view of the Nisqually Glacier. The Nisqually Vista trailhead is at the Paradise lower parking lot, or connect to the trail from the upper Paradise parking lot via a network of trails in the Paradise Meadows. The Paradise Road is open year-round, but closes nightly during the winter. The trail is covered in deep snow in winter, but is open for snowshoeing.