Cascade Range

The Cascade Range is best known for its tall volcanoes and deep evergreen forests. While the North Cascades contain an extremely rugged cluster of jagged peaks, it is the long line of snowy volcanic cones running from Mount Baker south to Lassen Peak that dominate the range for its entire length.

The borders of the Cascade Range are in some dispute to the north and the south. To the north, the term is sometimes applied to the ranges of British Columbia north and west of the Fraser River, particularly the area around the Mount Garibaldi volcano. However, the general opinion seems to be that the range ends at the Fraser. Similarly, to the south, Lassen Peak is sometimes considered the northernmost summit of the Sierra Nevada instead of the southernmost of the Cascades. But, as an isolated volcano with no master trench separating it from other Cascade peaks, it seems to belong to the Cascades more.

The western border is the great I-5/Willamette/Puget Sound trench, and to the east the range ends in desert scrublands along the general line of U.S. Highway 97.

Perhaps no other single, major, named mountain range in the world is so completely split straight through by a major river as the Cascade Range is by the Columbia River. Indeed, this is the only hydrographic break in the entire "Pacific Crest" from Cabo San Lucas in Baja to the Fraser River in Canada.

The mighty Columbia's impressive gorge lies between Mount Adams (12,276') and Mount Hood (11,239') and is the only chance airmasses from the Pacific or the interior have to equalize, making the Columbia River Gorge one of the most consistently windy places on earth. And the many waterfalls falling from steep walls of the gorge are what gave the range its name.

Note: Range borders shown on map are an approximation and are not authoritative.
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