| Learn More About Oregon's Geology |
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Cascade Mountains
The Cascade province is actually made up of two volcanic regions, the older, broader, and deeply eroded Western Cascades and the dominating, snow-capped peaks of the younger, more easterly volcanoes of the High Cascades, such as Mount Hood, Mount Jefferson, and the Three Sisters (North, Middle, and South Sister). Another High Cascade peak, Mount Mazama, was destroyed about 6,800 years ago by a catastrophic eruption that left a deep caldera later filled by what is now Crater Lake.
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| Broken Top near Bend |
Crater Lake National Park in southern Oregon |
Trillium Lake and Mount Hood near Portland |
Mount Hood Loop,
located on the northern boundary of Oregon: One of the world’s most scenic highway loops, through a gorge cut by the Columbia River along Interstate I-84, along the fault-and volcano-bounded Hood River Valley (Hwy. 35), and up the flanks of Mount Hood (Highways 35 and 26). For information, contact Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, 902 Wasco Ave., Suite 200, Hood River, OR 97031, phone (541) 386-2333, or Mt. Hood National Forest, 16400 Champion Way, Sandy OR 97053, phone (503) 668-1700. |
McKenzie Pass Highway,
crossing the Cascades along Hwys. 242 and 126 between Sisters and Eugene: A view of volcanoes, lava flows, cinder cones, and the Dee Wright Volcano Observatory. |
Crater Lake National Park,
located in southwest Oregon, with year-round access on the south via Hwy. 62: World-famous, 1,900-foot-deep Crater Lake lies in the caldera of what is left of once 12,000-foot -high-Mt. Mazama, which was destroyed by a catastrophic eruption about 6,800 years ago. For information, contact superintendent, Crater Lake National Park, Box 7, Crater Lake, OR 97604, (541) 594-2211 |
Links:
Oregon Outdoors
The Cascades Volcano Observatory
Mount Hood National Forest
Willamette National Forest
Deschutes and Ochoco National Forests
Umpqua National Forest
Winema National Forest
Virtual Cascades Tour
Crater Lake National Park
Wildflowers of the Oregon Cascades
Graphic by Elizabeth L. Orr, Geology of Oregon,
available from Nature of the Northwest
 
back to Geologic Sightseeing
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