Qualla: Cascade Range

Cascade Range: Introduction

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Troymason, CC BY 2.0. On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens exploded with the force of 500 atomic bombs, blasting 1,300 feet off its summit and killing 57 people. The eruption shocked a nation that had forgotten American volcanoes could still erupt. But geologists weren't surprised - every major eruption in the contiguous United States over the past 200 years has come from the Cascades, the volcanic mountain range that runs from British Columbia through Washington and Oregon into Northern California. These are not dead peaks. They are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, built by the slow collision of tectonic plates, and they will erupt again.

Read more: Cascade Range on Qualla

Image: Troymason | CC BY 2.0

Cascade Range: The High Cascades

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Cindy Shebley, CC BY 2.0. The great stratovolcanoes dominate the range - massive cones that tower twice the height of surrounding peaks, their summits white with glaciers even in August. Mount Rainier, at 14,411 feet the highest point in Washington, holds more glacial ice than all other Cascade volcanoes ...

Read more: Cascade Range on Qualla

Image: Cindy Shebley | CC BY 2.0

Cascade Range: Fire and Ice

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit No machine-readable author provided. Doviende~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 2.0. The Cascades exist because the Juan de Fuca Plate is diving beneath North America at the Cascadia Subduction Zone. As the oceanic crust plunges into the mantle, water rises and triggers melting, generating the magma that feeds the volcanoes. This same process causes earthquakes -...

Read more: Cascade Range on Qualla

Image: No machine-readable author provided. Doviende~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims). | CC BY-SA 2.0

Cascade Range: The Green Cathedral

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit pfly, CC BY-SA 2.0. Below the ice and rock, the Cascades support some of the most productive forests on Earth. Douglas-fir, western red cedar, and western hemlock grow to enormous size in the mild, wet climate - trees reaching 300 feet tall and living for centuries. The northern spotted owl and marb...

Read more: Cascade Range on Qualla

Image: pfly | CC BY-SA 2.0

Cascade Range: Sacred Mountains

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Walter Siegmund (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0. The First Nations people gave these peaks names long before European explorers arrived. Mount St. Helens was 'Louwala-Clough' - the smoking mountain. Mount McLoughlin was 'M'laiksini Yaina.' Mount Jefferson was 'Seekseekqua.' When British explorer George Vancouver sailed Puget So...

Read more: Cascade Range on Qualla

Image: Walter Siegmund (talk) | CC BY-SA 3.0