Cascade RangeRange Type | Mountain range with well-recognized name | Highest Point | Mount Rainier (14,411 ft/4392 m) | Countries | United States (184%), Canada (16%) (numbers are approximate percentage of range area) | States/Provinces | Washington (45%), Oregon (35%), California (12%), British Columbia (8%) (numbers are approximate percentage of range area) | Area | 58,497 sq mi / 151,508 sq km Area may include lowland areas | Extent | 725 mi / 1,167 km North-South 194 mi / 312 km East-West | Center Lat/Long | 45° 10' N; 121° 23' W | Map Link | Microsoft Bing Map | Search Engines - search the web for "Cascade Range": Wikipedia Search Microsoft Bing Search Google Search Yahoo Search
Selected Guidebook(s) for this Range: Climbing Washingtons Mountains (Smoot) Summit Routes: Washington's 100 Highest Peaks (Stephenson, Bongiovanni) Cascade Alpine Guide, Vol. 1 (Beckey) Cascade Alpine Guide, Vol. 2 (Beckey) Cascade Alpine Guide, Vol. 3 (Beckey) Climbing the Cascade Volcanoes (Smoot) Caution: These books feature many of the peaks in this range, but may not have information on all of them.
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The Cascade Range is best known for its tall volcanoes and deep evergreen forests. While the North Cascades contain an extremeley 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 northermost 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 Collumbia 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.
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Map of Cascade Range Click on red triangle icons for links to other ranges.
Note: Range borders shown on map are an approximation and are not authoritative. Click Here for a Full Screen Map
| Other Ranges: To go to pages for other ranges either click on the map above, or on range names in the hierarchy snapshot below, which show the parent, siblings, and children of the Cascade Range. | |
Major Peaks of the Cascade RangeTen Highest Peaks | Rank | Peak Name | ft | m | Range4 | 1. | Mount Rainier | 14,411 | 4392 | South Washington Cascades | 2. | Mount Shasta | 14,162 | 4317 | California Cascades | 3. | Curtis Ridge | 13,720+ | 4182+ | South Washington Cascades | 4. | Mount Adams | 12,276 | 3742 | South Washington Cascades | 5. | Mud Creek Glacier Peak | 11,267 | 3434 | California Cascades | 6. | Mount Hood | 11,239 | 3426 | Oregon Cascades | 7. | Little Tahoma | 11,138 | 3395 | South Washington Cascades | 8. | The Beehive | 11,000+ | 3353+ | South Washington Cascades | 9. | Mount Baker | 10,781 | 3286 | North Cascades | 10. | Glacier Peak | 10,520+ | 3206+ | North Cascades | Sub-peaks are excluded from this list. List may not be complete, since only summits in the PBC Database are included. |
Photos of Peaks in the Cascade Range
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