Jim Nelson - Classic Cascade Climbs: Select Routes in Washington State

Peaks of the Northern Pickets from the southwest, with Phantom Peak in the center; left from Phantom are Ghost Peak, Crooked Thumb, and the Challengers. Mount Redoubt is behind Challenger; the distant peak left of center is Mount Spickard. (Photo by John Scurlock)

Indigenous peoples have inhabited the Pacific Northwest for thousands of years and developed their own myths and legends about the Cascades. In these legends, St. Helens, with its pre-1980 graceful appearance, was regarded as a beautiful maiden over whom Hood and Adams feuded. Native tribes also had their own names for many of the peaks: Tahoma, the Lushootseed name for Mount Rainier; Koma Kulshan or simply Kulshan for Mount Baker; Louwala-Clough or Loowit, meaning smoking mountain, for Mount St. Helens.

In 1792 British navigator George Vancouver explored Puget Sound and gave English names to the high mountains he saw. Mount Baker was named for Vancouvers third lieutenant, Joseph Baker; Mount Rainier was named after Admiral Peter Rainier. Vancouver named Mount Hood after Lord Samuel Hood, an admiral of the Royal Navy. Mount St. Helens was named for Alleyne FitzHerbert, first Baron St. Helens, a British diplomat.

In 1805 the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through the Cascades on the Columbia River, which for many years was the only practical route through that part of the range. Looking at Mount Adams, they thought it was Mount St. Helens. When they later saw Mount St. Helens, they thought it was Mount Rainier. The Lewis and Clark Expedition, and the many settlers who followed, met the last obstacle on their journey at the Cascades Rapids in the Columbia River Gorge. Before long, the whitecapped mountains that loomed above the rapids were called the mountains by the cascades, and later simply the Cascades. The earliest use of the name Cascade Range is found in the writings of botanist David Douglas.

The amazing scope of the Cascades makes it difficult to characterize the range in any all-encompassing way. Its changing geology, swirling weather, and overall size all provide a variety of choices as well as a variety of conditions.

In general, the Cascades rise from relatively low footings in the south, and the southern interests in this book are with the volcanoesMounts Hood, Adams, St. Helens, and Rainier. In the central region of Washington State, between Snoqualmie Pass and the Boulder River, the range takes on a more jagged uplift of nonvolcanic and largely nongranitic peaks like The Tooth, Mount Garfield, and Mount Index. This central region also has several well-known granitic intrusions like the Stuart Range and the Darrington group as well as others. Finally, in the 80 miles or so of the northernmost part of the state, fabled summits like Liberty Bell, Forbidden Peak, Bear Mountain, and Slesse Mountain make for a dramatic climax to the range and are a profound lure for climbers. It is still the most wild and rugged of the regions described in these pages.