More than any other glacier that I have seen it looked like a river of ice, flowing down the valley, following around the curves. Here and there patches of blue glacial ice show through the cover of snow and rock on its surface. There is a prominent medial moraine, a line of rock debris down the middle of the glacier, as well as lateral moraines heaped up along its sides. The surface of the ice is lined with deep cracks, known as crevasses, caused by differing rates of flow across the width of the glacier.

The source of the glacier is far above, around a corner of the valley. We could see the mining road climbing steadily, probably affording even better views of the glacier. When the road is open all the way to the summit (five miles past this point), it is possible to see not only the source of the glacier, but another ice stream flowing in the opposite direction. A little further is Summit Lake, penned up in a side canyon, waiting for release in a violent jokulhlaup.