Since the 19th century, due to its excellent accessibility and unique exposure, the Lochsite locality (570 m a.s.l.) has been the most famous outcrop of the Glarus thrust. A natural recess in the mountains at the type locality of the Lochsite limestone, offers a worldwide unique, impressive view of "kneading structures" and a late razor sharp planar thrust surface. Albert Heim wrote in 1921: "Whoever still doubts awesome nappe tectonics, should first go visit the Lochseite ..."

Fessis is easily reached by the small alpine cable car near Ennenda. Glaciers have modelled this picturesque region with its magnificent views. In the region of the lower Fessis tarn, the outcrops of Verrucano remind of Scandinavian landscapes. The Mürtschen thrust is exposed above the colourful rocks of Triassic age (white dolomites, blood-red and purple Verrucano and Quarten slates) at the foot of the Heustock-Gufelstock chain.

Neither the Talsee nor the Spanneggsee have surfical influents or effluents. In the valley basin south of the Talsee, karst weathering has created a large sinkhole (doline) called the "Hell-hole" and the limestone pavement west of Mürtschenfürggli. The Mürtschenstock-limestones have been squeezed into large-scale folds. At Mürtschenfürggli, Dogger limestones of middle Jurassic age (ca. 170 Ma) lie against Triassic Rauhwacken (lime evaporites) (ca. 240 Ma). These are separated by a vertical fault that in the Spannegg region bends to horizontal into the Mürtschen thrust.

The fault at Mürtschenfürggel can be followed further to the Murgseefurggel and on to the Widersteinerfurggel. There, massive Verrucano rocks (to the West) were thrusted over softer, more schistose Verrucano. The massive Verrucano rocks exposed in the Murgsee region were strongly shaped and smoothed by glaciers. Aside from the alpine fen regions, this area presents the most northerly occurrence of an extensive population of Swiss stone pine.

At Sexmor between Prodkamm (for example, on the Geotrail) and Magerrain the Lias (lower Jurassic, 200-175 Ma) rock layers are intensively folded. Here you can find fossils such as mussels, belemnites, ammonites and also well-preserved depositional structures. You can see moraines and ancient stream beds on the Fursch at best in the sunset light. On the Wissmeilen, vegetation-poor white gypsum and grey dolomite layers with their the gnarled rauhwacke towers look like a moon landscape.

From Matt eastwards an alpine road passes flower-rich dry meadows and a flood-plain landscape that is of national importance and goes on to the Gnappetriet moor. The Glarus thrust lies at the basis of a massive layer of Verrucano that builds the flanking rock cliffs. It dips northwards from Foostock and Fuggstock and dives under valley floor at the northern part of the Chrauchtal. In the rock faces north of Werben, the Verrucano is deformed into hundred-metre high folds.

Seldom is the Glarus thrust better exposed and so well recognisable as on the east and southern flanks of the Foostock. Erosion has removed all traces of the Glarus thrust at the Foopass. This is where Arnold Escher in the middle of the 19th century placed the brow of the Glarus double fold. The fierce, decade-long controversy about the Glarus thrust led the Foopass to become a Mecca for geologists.

The mountain with the melodious name Piz Sardona at the border between the cantons of Glarus, St Gallen and Graubünden lent its name to the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Tectonic Arena Sardona." Here, Verrucano rocks lie directly on a thin band of Lochsite limestone and flysch rocks. In the direction of Calfeisental and Flims are glaciers, which have in recent years significantly lost volume and recessed in length and volume. At their front ends are stunning examples of ground moraines, glacial scour and lodgement tills.

At the Glarus and Graubünden Tschingelhoren, the Glarus thrust is at around 2600 m a.s.l. Only the basal, slightly greenish-grey layers of Verrucano are still present, and these have been weathered out to form striking, jagged pinnacles. Between the Glarus thrust and the younger brownish-weathering slatey flysch lies a thick band of "Middle-aged" (in terms of Earth history) massive limestone.

At the legendary Martinsloch ("Martin's hole") two zones of geological weakness cross: a soft, flat-lying dark marl layer and a steeply dipping fracture zone. Erosion has preferentially worked this zone, creating a large hole (the Martinsloch) with a diameter of over 15 m. Two days every year, one in Spring (March 13/14) and one in Fall (October 1/2), the sun shines through Martinsloch onto the church in the town of Elm in the valley below.

The Plaun Segnas Sut, the lower Segnas plain, presents three geomorphologies of national importance that partially overlap: an alpine flood plain, a moor (fen) landscape and a flat marsh. A part of the great Flims landslide (ca. 9,000 years ago) sealed off the mountain valley north of the Segnas hut (large erratic blocks testify to this); the debris dammed up mountain streams creating an extremely valuable landscape.

The Plaun Segnas Sura, the upper Segnas plain, between the Segnas glacier and the rock barrier Crap la Tgina, is a glacial foreland with a flood plain of national importance, crowned by the Glarus thrust. The rim of hard rock causes a decrease in flow and deposition of coarser debris particles. Particularly beautiful is the water surface of the many interweaving streams in sunset light.

At Cassonsgrat one can touch the Glarus thrust and also admire the grand panoramic view encompassing the Tschingelhoren, the Piz Atlas - Piz Segnas - Piz Sardona group, the Piz Dolf, the Tristelhorn and the Ringelspitz chain. The perspective in the direction of Flims offers a good overview of the Flims landslide – from the failure scarp on the Cassons Alp to the huge, now forested, mass of landslide debris between Flims and Trin.

The Ringelspitz, with its elevation of 3247 m a.s.l., is the highest mountain in the Tectonic Arena Sardona. Here also the Glarus thrust reaches its highest point at about 3100 m a.s.l. One can follow the Glarus thrust in the West in the Glaserhorn-Tristelhorn chain and the Sardona group and to the North in the Pizol region. To the South, the thrust probably continues in the region of the Vorderrhein. This gives a good overview of the spatial distribution of the Glarus thrust.

At Vättis the crystalline rocks of the basement (Aarmassiv) arch upwards. In the area of the dome, glaciers and streams have carved out the valley forming a "geologic window" into the basement. Above the oldest rocks in the region lies a complete sedimentary profile from Triassic (250 Ma) to Tertiary (ca. 40 Ma) times. Ancient cave bear bones and fire relicts, dated at ca. 53,000 years, have been exhumed at the Drachenloch (Dragon Cave) situated at 2427 m a.s.l.

In the Pizol area one finds the easternmost outcrops of the Glarus Verrucano and the Glarus thrust. The thrust dips north from over 2700 m a.s.l. at the Pizol "saddle" down to Wangs where it dives under the valley floor. The Pizol glacier still exists, but it is severely suffering under rising environmental temperatures. Ancient glacial scour, striations and polished surfaces, moraine walls and lodgement tills are beautifully preserved in the Wildsee region.