Gannett Glacier

Gannett Glacier is the largest glacier in the Rocky Mountains within the United States, located on the east and north slopes of Gannett Peak, the highest mountain in Wyoming, on the east side of the Continental Divide in the Wind River Range. It is one of dozens of glaciers in the Fitzpatrick Wilderness of Shoshone National Forest. Like many glaciers worldwide it has been shrinking: its area was estimated at 4.6 square kilometers in 1950 and measured at 3.63 square kilometers in 1999, with a depth reduction of 18.6 meters recorded between 1958 and 1983. A 1989 study found that meltwater from Gannett and the neighboring Dinwoody Glacier, which feeds Dinwoody Creek and the Wind River, had been contributing decreasing amounts of water as the glaciers thinned and retreated, especially after 1950.