Carrie Glacier is located on
Mount Carrie and
Mount Fairchild in the
Olympic Mountains
The Olympic Mountains are a mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are not especially high – Mount Olympus is the highest at ; however, the easte ...
of
Olympic National Park
Olympic National Park is a United States national park located in the State of Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. The park has four regions: the Pacific coastline, alpine areas, the west-side temperate rainforest, and the forests of the drier ...
. Starting at an elevation of about , the glacier descends northward, but the ice soon reaches a cliff.
Part of the Carrie Glacier plunges over the steep rockwall, contributing ice to an adjacent glacier, while the other section flows north-northeast, avoiding the precipitous drop. This segment of ice is confined by an
arête
An arête ( ) is a narrow ridge of rock which separates two valleys. It is typically formed when two glaciers erode parallel U-shaped valleys. Arêtes can also form when two glacial cirques erode headwards towards one another, although frequ ...
to the west and
Mount Fairchild to the east in a
chute. The glacier reaches as low as before terminating. There are several other patches of snow and glaciers located nearby, such as the
Fairchild Glacier
Fairchild Glacier is located in the U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defin ...
.
[
Mount Carrie and Carrie Glacier were named by surveyor Theodore Rixon for his fiancée Caroline Jones whom he met on a trail in Soleduck Valley.]
See also
*List of glaciers in the United States
This is a list of glaciers existing in the United States, currently or in recent centuries. These glaciers are located in nine states, all in the Rocky Mountains or farther west. The southernmost named glacier among them is the Lilliput Glacier ...
References
Glaciers of Clallam County, Washington
Glaciers of the Olympic Mountains
Glaciers of Washington (state)
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