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 debirs and turns the glacier white again. 

Exhibit Panel Description
The main text stretches across the top third of the panel against a grey background. The secondary text is tucked into the upper right corner. The bottom two-thirds of the panel is filled with five photographs: a large photo centered in the middle of the panel with two photographs stacked on either side. The central photo shows Mount Rainier with the Nisqually Glacier curving down its slopes. Several features are labeled on the glacier. Near the summit, a narrow and steep section of glacier bordered by rock outcrops is labeled "Icefall". Midway down the glacier are cracks in the ice, with one labeled "Crevasse". The bottom half of the glacier is labeled "Glacier covered by debris", while the end is marked as "Terminus and meltwater river". A large bank of loose rocky debris on the side of the valley next to the glacier is labeled "Lateral moraine". On the left side of the panel, the top photo shows a detail of the glacier steeply flowing down between rock outcrops. A caption at the top of the photo reads "Icefalls occur where the glacier flows over a steep cliff and its pace accelerates to three feet per day." The bottom photo on the left side shows a detail of the end of the glacier, captioned "Terminus", partly covered in rocky debris and snow. On the right side of the panel, the top photo shows a detail of a large crack in the glacier's surface, captioned "Crevasse", with a string of climbers skirting the crevasse. The bottom photo shows a river emerging from underneath a wall of glacial ice. A caption at the top of the photo reads "Meltwater - headwaters of the Nisqually River". A small box in the lower left 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 at the top of the Glacier Vista Trail, a short loop trail that branches off of the Skyline Trail at Paradise. The Skyline Trail begins from the Paradise upper parking lot and is part of a network of trails in the Paradise Meadows. The Paradise Road is open year-round, but closes nightly during the winter.