Have you seen glacial flour?
"Why is the river milky-white?" I asked. At age 21, I backpacked completely around Mt. Rainier. It took a week. Growing up in Michigan, I never saw this before.
"It's glacial flour, tiny particles of rock ground by glaciers into silt," Tim replied. We were just below the Carbon Glacier on the north side of Mt. Rainier.
"Rock flour, or glacial flour, consists of fine-grained, silt-sized particles of rock, generated by mechanical grinding of bedrock by glacial erosion or by artificial grinding to a similar size. Because the material is very small, it becomes suspended in meltwater making the water appear cloudy, which is sometimes known as glacial milk."
Photo:
White River, WA, September 2020.
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Interesting, never knew that. Swam in Dead Horse Lake fed by glacial run off and it was this milky color. I was too cold to contemplate why.
prometheus
Level 7
Sep 8, 2020
1
Yes, I've seen it while hiking in NZ. That must be the most beautiful, unspoiled rugged area of the world.
Cyklone
Level 7
Sep 7, 2020
1
New Zealand? Lucky you!
@LiterateHiker I've done a lot of hiking there, it's only a quick jump across the pond for me. 
Don't seem to get that in Spain. Nor in East Africa. However, I have seen it in the upper reaches of the Rhone river, in Switzerland, as I often drive through Gletsch, near the base of the glacier that is the source of this massive European river. The link below might tempt you to try hiking there!
Petter
Level 9
Sep 7, 2020
2
I love Switzerland. My parents took us four kids on an art tour in Europe when I was 15.
Washington State has spectacular mountains for hiking. I'm happy here.
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