Carbon Glacier

Mt. Rainier has Carbon Glacier in the northwest corner of the park that is easily accessible by a pleasant 7-mile hike (with 1,000 feet elevation gain). I led a boy scout day outing to see the glacier on Saturday. It was a small group (3 scouts, 3 leaders). It is a popular trail, and we saw about 100 other hikers, including another scout troop with about 20 scouts.

The hike starts at Ipsut Creek Campground (2,300 feet). Much of the hike is alongside the Carbon River, which drains from the glacier. The river bed is an awesome destruction zone, several hundred yards wide in places. In other places, we could see where it has flooded through the forest, ripping out huge douglas firs and hemlocks. The river regularly attacks the trail in many places as well as the road to the trailhead. In addition to the glacier, the hike includes a nice suspension bridge.