Home on the Ranges

There aren’t a lot of similarities between the Appalachian Mountains area and the Seattle area but Washington does have a mountain range the goes through the state, the range is called the Cascades. The Cascade Range stretches over 700 miles across Northern California, Oregon, Washington, and Southern British Columbia, running parallel to the Pacific, about 100-150 miles inland. The range is best known for its massive snow-capped volcanoes, which rise in isolation and are separated by great intervening plateaus.[1]

On the other hand, the Appalachians are twice as long in length compared to the Cascade Range. At about 1,500 miles in length, they extend from central Alabama up through the New England states and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Quebec.

The Appalachians might be lengthier, but they are not higher than the Cascades. The highest point in the Appalachians is Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina at 6,684 feet.[2] As opposed to the highest point in the Cascades which is Mt. Rainier at 14,410 feet.

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[1] “Cascade Range,” accessed March 20, 2011, http://www.peakware.com/areas.html?a=293

[2] “Landforms of North America,” accessed March 20, 2011, http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/nalnd.htm