The alpine glaciers you see today are comparatively young, but they continue to grind, sculpt and reshape the landscape. The North Cascades are the most densely glaciated mountains in the contiguous United States. Glaciers form when more snow accumulates each winter than melts and evaporates during warmer weather. The enormous weight of that accumulation recrystallizes the snow into ice, and the glacier begins to flow downhill. Glaciers can flow several feet per year, and it is this movement that distinguishes glaciers from non-moving ice fields.
Glaciers are vitally important to the region's ecology and hydrology.
During times of year when little rain falls, meltwater accounts for all the water in some streams. These are worth catching. . . Six-mile long Scott Paul Trail crosses the terminal moraine on Squak Glacier. Railroad Grade Trail deposits hikers at the Easton Glacier on Mt. Baker. Glaciers on Colonial and Pyramid Peaks are visible from Diablo Overlook at milepost 132.