Page 34 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Pacific Northwest

32  INTRODUCING THE P A CIFIC NOR THWEST

Landscapes of the Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest is blessed with
an abundance of dramatically different
landscapes. Seashores give way to
coastal mountains, which drop into
the Fraser Plateau in British Columbia,
into Puget Sound in Washington, and
into the Willamette Valley in Oregon.
The peaks of the Cascade Mountains
bisect both Oregon and Washington,
and the majestic Rockies rise in
eastern British Columbia. Other
distinct landscapes are the Columbia Sea Stacks
Plateau’s layers of ancient lava that Portions of wave-eroded headlands that remain as
spread across eastern Oregon and offshore mounds rise majestically from the surf of the
Pacific Ocean. The stacks are most numerous along
Washington, and the high deserts the southern Oregon coast near Cape Blanco and
of central and southern Oregon. off Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.

Coasts
In Oregon and southern Washington, sandy
beaches and rocky headlands extend for
more than 450 miles (725 km) along the coast.
The Strait of Juan de Fuca etches Washington’s
northern coastline with a succession of
bays and inlets, while in British Columbia,
10,340 miles (16,640 km) of shoreline wrap
around inlets, fjords, and islands. Mountain Ranges
The Coast and Cascade ranges form
a spine of mountains that rises almost
continuously from southern Oregon to
northern British Columbia. Much of the
lower slopes of the mountains are
carpeted with forests that give way
to alpine meadows, then to glaciers.

The Canadian Rockies
With their dominating peaks and vast ice fields,
the Rocky Mountains cover a large part of British
Columbia. Thirty mountains of this immense
range are more than 10,000 ft (3,048 m) high.

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