Location: Washington, USA
Elevation: 12,276 ft. (3,742 m)
Mount Adams is the second highest mountain in Washington state and the third highest mountain in the Cascade Range (range of mountains in western North America which extends from southern British Columbia through Washington, Oregon and Northern California). Mount Adams is a potentially active stratovolcano that is asymmetrical in shape and has a mostly flat summit which was created by cone-building eruptions from two separated vents. Built up by many hardened layers of lava, volcanic ash, tephra and pumice from explosive eruptions over time, Mount Adams has not erupted in well over 1,400 years; however, geologically it is still considered potentially active.
Mount Adams is also known as “Pahto” to Native Americans. Many legends have been told about the mountains that form the Cascade range but one of the most popular is the Bridge of the Gods tale. According to one version of the tale, Wy’east (Mount Hood) and Pahto (Mount Adams) were sons of the Great Spirit. These brothers competed for the affection of La-wa-la-clough (Mount St. Helens). La-wa-la-clough chose Pahto (Mount Adams). Thus, Wy’east (Mount Hood) hit his brother hard on the head (causing it to be flat) and took La-wa-la-clough. Another version of the tale states that Pahto holds his head down due to the shame of losing La-wa-la-clough to his brother, Wy’east. These battles over La-wa-la-cough also resulted in the destruction of Bridge of the Gods over the Columbia River Gorge.
Rare Earth Adventures offers the following climbs on Mount Adams:
