Ohanapecosh River

The Ohanapecosh River in Mt. Rainier National Park is a beautiful clear river originating on the east side of Mt. Rainier. The water in the river is clear because the river begins in a snow field, Ohanapecosh Park, not a glacier. Visitors to Mt. Rainier who have seen the White River and the Ohanapecosh will immediately understand the difference in appearance between a glacial origin river and a non-glacial origin river. Glacial rivers like the White River are cloudy because they contain rock flower(finely ground rock) from the glacial ice.

Here is the river looking upstream from the campground bridge in July when the river was still high from snow melt.

As the summer progressed the water levels fell until the late summer rains began.

This is the pool below the campground bridge. Note the turquoise color of the water.

This deep pool was used by diving kids even though the water temperature is in the low 40s.

There is an area near the two kids on the left in this picture that is used as a swimming beach.

In September we got a bit of rain which obviously melted a bit of glacier somewhere in the headwaters and the river was white for a day.

In October we got a big slug of rain and the river turned brown. In both the case of the white and brown color changes the river began clearing up and returned to normal in a day or two. Note the water level is much higher than the above photo.

Silver Falls in July when the water levels were high.

The view downstream from the Silver Falls bridge. Again, note the turquoise color.