The Cascade Mountains are a 725-mile mountain range with 92% in the US. It has an east-west range of 194 miles and is known for its rugged terrain, snow-capped peaks, and active volcanoes. Mount Rainier is the highest peak and has a national park. The Cascades have 18 active volcanoes, and the Columbia River divides it into northern and southern ranges. Lewis and Clark Expedition identified five active volcanoes in the range.
The Cascade Mountains are a generally north-south mountain range near the western coast of the United States and Canada extending to a length of 725 miles (1,167 kilometers) with 92% occurring within the borders of the United States. It also has an east-west range of approximately 194 miles (312 kilometers), and the highest peak for the Cascade Mountains is Mount Rainier, at 14,411 feet (4,392 meters). The Cascade Range is known for its rugged terrain, snow-capped peaks and array of volcanoes. Some of the volcanoes are still active, the most famous being Mt. St. Helens in southwestern Washington state which had a major eruption on May 18, 1980.
While Mount Rainier is the tallest mountain in the Cascades and also an active volcano, several others are close to it in height, including Northern California’s Mount Shasta at 14,162 feet (4,317 meters) and Mount Adams directly east of the Mountain. St. Helens, at 12,276 feet (3,742 meters). Mount Rainier, however, bears the name of a US national park. Mount Rainier National Park is a popular site for experienced climbers and hikers interested in the ancient forests, meadows and wildflowers of the glacier-fed region of the North Cascades. The Paradise Jackson Visitor Center at the park had a record 1971-1972 season snowfall of 93.5 feet (28.50 meters).
The Cascade Mountains make up a small part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, which is a series of volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean covering 154,441 square miles (400,000 square kilometers). It contains about 75% of the world’s active volcanoes. Of all the mountain ranges in North America, the Cascade Mountains have the most active volcanoes, with 18 of them erupting in the last 2,000 years and 7 of them erupting in the last 200 years.
The famous Lewis and Clark Expedition which explored the Pacific Coast region of the western United States between 1804 and 1806 was responsible for identifying five of the active volcanoes in the Cascade Mountains range. These include Mount Rainier, Adams, and St. Helens north of the Columbia River Basin in present-day Washington state, and Mount Hood and Jefferson south of there in Oregon state. The Columbia River itself is considered unique, as it divides the Cascade Mountains into a northern and southern range as it flows from the Pacific Ocean west to east between Mount Adams to the north and Mount Hood to the south. The river basin created by the Columbia is considered the only major region of water and air flow between the Pacific Ocean, the Cascade Mountains, and the interior United States along the western border, making the river one of the roughest and windiest rivers to date. navigate the world.
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