#box canyon

[hooperdrivestheboat]

"Above Box Canyon" by W. G. (Bill) Bass Arizona Highways, February 1955

[mountrainiernps]

Mount Rainier has been shaped by glacial forces as much as it has been by built by volcanic ones. A roche moutonnée, or "sheep-rock", is an elongated, glacially scoured bedrock bump or hill with a distinctive shape that supposedly resembles the back of a grazing sheep. The rock formation has a steep, rough side produced by glacier plucking and a low angle, smooth side created by glacial abrasion. As glaciers flow downhill, they pluck rocks from the surface under the glacier by either freezing onto them or by breaking off pieces of rock. The moving rock-studded ice acts like sandpaper grinding the bedrock below, polishing it and leaving behind striations, or scratch marks.

Roche moutonnée can be viewed around Mount Rainier below the Paradise Glacier, or along the trail near Box Canyon.

NPS Photo of roche moutonnée near Box Canyon, September 2025.

[adventurealldays]

[goeffgeoff]

[herbalnature]

Step into the serene blues of an Alaskan box canyon, where ice forms an otherworldly passage to the sky. The natural light creates a tranquil ambiance, perfect for a moment of reflection amidst the frozen beauty.

[melodiesofmidnight]

Box Canyon.

[artismorality]

Ouray, Colorado

[ker-bee]

on the edge