| Paradise Glacier | |
| Type: | Mountain glacier |
| Location: | Mount Rainier, Pierce County, Washington, USA |
| Coords: | 46.8175°N -121.7142°W |
| Area: | 0.4sqmi, 1983 including Stevens Glacier[1] |
Paradise Glacier is a glacier on the southeast flank of Mount Rainier in Washington. It covers 0.4sqmi and contains 0.8 billion ft3 (23 million m3) with Stevens Glacier included.[1] The glacier is bounded to the west by the Muir Snowfield, Anvil Rock and McClure Rock. There is a single extant main lobe of the glacier, ranging from 9000feet to 7200feet, that is connected to the larger Cowlitz Glacier.[2] To the south, there was a smaller portion which was near the Cowlitz Rocks and the tiny Williwakas Glacier, ranging from 6900feet to 6400-2NaN-2 in elevation and containing the Paradise Ice Caves until the 1990s.[2] [3] This smaller lobe melted between 2004 and 2006.[4] Meltwater from the glacier drains into the Cowlitz River.[1]
The Williwakas was declared a dead glacier in the 1930s and the ice caves were lost in the 1980s. In a June 2023 report from the National Park Service (NPS), the Stevens Glacier was removed from the NPS glacier list for lack of ice flow and size.[5]