Mount Washington Wilderness
Encyclopedia
The Mount Washington Wilderness is a wilderness area located on and around Mount Washington
in the central Cascade Range
of Oregon
in the United States
. The Wilderness Area was established in 1964 and comprises 52516 acre (213 km²) of the Willamette
and Deschutes National Forest
s. It is administered by the US Forest Service.
Mount Washington is a shield volcano
rising above 75 square miles (194.2 km²) of lava-strewn plains. The Wilderness Area includes Belknap Crater
, a 6872 ft (2,095 m) cinder and ash volcanic cone
. Vegetation consists primarily of lodgepole
and other species of pine and mountain hemlock
. There are 28 lakes in the Wilderness. The Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail extends for 16.6 miles (26.7 km) through the Mount Washington Wilderness. It is the primary trail and extends from the north boundary near Big Lake to where it leaves the wilderness at its southern boundary near the Dee Wright Observatory.
Mount Washington (Oregon)
Mount Washington is a deeply eroded shield volcano in the Cascade Range of Oregon. The mountain dates to the Late Pleistocene. However, it does have a line of basaltic andesite spatter cones on its northeast flank which are approximately 1,330 years old according to carbon dating...
in the central Cascade Range
Cascade Range
The Cascade Range is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, and the notable volcanoes known as the High Cascades...
of Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The Wilderness Area was established in 1964 and comprises 52516 acre (213 km²) of the Willamette
Willamette National Forest
The Willamette National Forest is a National Forest located in the central portion of the Cascade Range of US state of Oregon.It comprises 1,675,407 acres making it one of the largest national forests. Over 380,000 acres are designated wilderness which include seven major mountain peaks...
and Deschutes National Forest
Deschutes National Forest
The Deschutes National Forest is a United States National Forest located in parts of Deschutes, Klamath, Lake, and Jefferson counties in central Oregon. It comprises 1.8 million acres along the east side of the Cascade mountains. In 1908, the Deschutes National Forest was established from parts...
s. It is administered by the US Forest Service.
Geography
Shield volcano
A shield volcano is a type of volcano usually built almost entirely of fluid lava flows. They are named for their large size and low profile, resembling a warrior's shield. This is caused by the highly fluid lava they erupt, which travels farther than lava erupted from more explosive volcanoes...
rising above 75 square miles (194.2 km²) of lava-strewn plains. The Wilderness Area includes Belknap Crater
Belknap Crater
Belknap Crater is a shield volcano in the Cascade Range in the U.S. state of Oregon.Belknap volcano is a Holocene example of the process which built the High Cascade Platform during the Pleistocene. It is a small shield volcano with a capping cinder cone....
, a 6872 ft (2,095 m) cinder and ash volcanic cone
Volcanic cone
Volcanic cones are among the simplest volcanic formations. They are built by ejecta from a volcanic vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater. Volcanic cones are of different types, depending upon the nature and size of the fragments ejected during the eruption...
. Vegetation consists primarily of lodgepole
Lodgepole Pine
Lodgepole Pine, Pinus contorta, also known as Shore Pine, is a common tree in western North America. Like all pines, it is evergreen.-Subspecies:...
and other species of pine and mountain hemlock
Mountain Hemlock
Tsuga mertensiana, known as Mountain Hemlock, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern Tulare County, California....
. There are 28 lakes in the Wilderness. The Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail extends for 16.6 miles (26.7 km) through the Mount Washington Wilderness. It is the primary trail and extends from the north boundary near Big Lake to where it leaves the wilderness at its southern boundary near the Dee Wright Observatory.
See also
- List of Oregon Wildernesses
- List of U.S. Wilderness Areas
- Wilderness ActWilderness ActThe Wilderness Act of 1964 was written by Howard Zahniser of The Wilderness Society. It created the legal definition of wilderness in the United States, and protected some 9 million acres of federal land. The result of a long effort to protect federal wilderness, the Wilderness Act was signed...
- Old growth
- List of old growth forests
External links
- Willamette National Forest - Mt. Washington Wilderness
- Mt. Washington Wilderness - Wilderness.net
- Forests and Global Warming - Oregon Wild