Mountain - A large landform that rises above the surrounding land, in the form of a peak and/or a ridgeline, with sides that are generally steeper than those of a hill and an elevation difference between the bottom and the top that is greater than that for a hill.
Mountain range - A series of more or less connected mountains ranged in a line.
Timberline (or Tree Line) - The altitude above sea level at which trees cannot grow, as on the side and/or top of mountains. Also, the further north (south in the southern hemisphere) the mountain, the lower the elevation at which Tree line occurs.
Path - A way formed or trampled by the feet of persons or animals.
Trail - A path made across a wild region. As used here, the path involved has usually been built or improved (by people) for the purpose of accessing and traversing mountains.
Route - As used on this website, denotes recommended places to walk where no path is discernible, mainly across open ground/rocks above Tree Line.
Couloir - A steep gorge on the side of a mountain, usually very rocky - often the safest path to/from the summit of a mountain.
Landslide (or rockslide) – The downward falling/sliding of a mass of soil, detritus, and/or rock on or from a steep slope.
Colorado Fourteeners – The 54 Colorado peaks that rise above 14,000 feet in elevation.
Continental divide (of the Americas) - The dividing line which determines whether water will flow to the Atlantic Ocean or to the Pacific Ocean (located in the Rocky Mountains).
When air masses move up and over mountains (the windward side), the air cools, producing precipitation (rain or snow). As the air descends on the other (leeward) side, it warms again and is drier, having been stripped of much of its moisture. This often results in what is called a "rain shadow" on the leeward side of a mountain range. While this effect can be detected in the eastern mountains (Appalachians), it is particularly pronounced in the western US, where the western slopes of mountains are wooded (often heavily so), while the eastern slopes and the valleys below are arid (dry) with much smaller and more scattered vegetation.
The air temperature decrease as altitude increases is generally about 3.5°F per 1000 feet of elevation gain, or roughly the same as going north 300 miles (at the same elevation). This occurs because air density (thickness) and atmospheric pressure decrease as altitude increases. This increasingly cooler climate as altitude increases, results in vegetation (plants) becoming smaller and fewer in number as altitude increases (shorter growing season).
In addition, the thinner air (decreased atmospheric pressure/oxygen level) at higher altitudes affects the human body. This effect is observable by around 5000 feet elevation, but not generally noticed unless one thinks about it…. However, by 13,000 feet elevation, it is quite noticeable and has a significant effect on energy level. For example, when I visited the Capitol Lake area (peak number 30 under the climber's photos on the navigation bar), I found it necessary to acclimate for several days at 8000 feet in order to be able to successfully hike from 9500 to 11,500 feet (Capitol Peak trailhead to Capitol Lake and back).
The journals of The Climber periodically refer to Colorado (mountain) weather (and its effect on his climbing…). During the warm months (in particular), the mountains seem to generate their own weather. Mornings, evenings (and overnight) are usually cool and dry, but due to daytime heating, clouds frequently build through the morning hours and into the early afternoon, often becoming thunderstorms (which are particularly dangerous at the highest elevations). As a result, many Fourteener climbs begin in the wee hours of the morning, in order to enable the climbers to reach (and descend from) the desired summit(s) before clouds/storms can build to a dangerous level.
The Pacific Coast Ranges - Generally along the Pacific coast from northwest Washington state to Southern California)
The Cascade and Sierra Nevada Ranges - Extending from north-central Washington state to southern California, and separated from the Coast Ranges by wide, fertile farming valleys
The Rocky Mountains - In the US they stretch from Glacier National Park in northwest Montana, through the states of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and to central New Mexico. They are separated from the Cascade/Sierra Nevada by hundreds of miles (of mostly relatively flat land), much of which is desert land.
The Appalachian Mountains – These are in the eastern United States, stretching from northern Maine to central Alabama.
The Appalachian Mountains stretch 1500 miles from the island of Newfoundland in Canada to central Alabama in the United States. The highest elevations are in North Carolina/Tennessee and New Hampshire. Mount Mitchell in western North Carolina, at 6684 feet is the highest peak in the range. The highest peak in New England is Mount Washington at 6288 feet. For the most part, these mountains are heavily wooded. The (above Tree line) exceptions are the higher elevations in New Hampshire and Maine, including Mount Washington and (in Maine), Mount Katahdin. Some of the higher elevations in the southern Appalachians are grassy balds, but they are not above Tree line.
The Appalachian Trail extends nearly 2200 miles, from Springer Mountain in northern Georgia to Mount Katahdin in northern Maine. It passes through 14 states: Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The trail basically stays in the Appalachian Mountains, mostly following (or crossing) ridge lines, although some portions traverse towns, roads and farms. The trail passes through two National Parks – Great Smoky Mountains and Shenandoah. It also passes through multiple national forests and several state parks and forests. In the early days, much of the trail was on roads or private land. However, all of it is now in a protected corridor , generally routed in such a way as to be as “wild” as possible.
In most places, the Appalachian Trail is a "dirt tread", about a foot wide with low vegetation and shrubs or trees on both sides. At numerous places along these sections, there are often rock "slabs", varying in size, but generally with a level or near level surface on which to place one's foot. These kinds of trail treads are generally fairly easy to walk on, i.e. they provide good "footing". However, in other places, especially from Central Pennsylvania through Mount Katahdin (the northern end), there periodically are "rock fields". These are made up of large rocks of various shapes, most with sizes ranging from that of a crockpot to the size of a microwave oven or larger. In many cases, the sides/top of these rocks are at varying angles, with no level place on which to step. In addition, the cracks between such rocks are almost never appealing or safe places for a foot to be placed. Hikers frequently refer to Pennsylvania as " Rocksylvania" because of the extent of these kinds of rocks, as well as it’s many miles of (ankle-turning) smaller/broken rocks on its portion of the AT.
That said, it should be noted that (to my knowledge) there is no place along the Appalachian Trail, or indeed in the entire eastern United States where a rockslide could occur. That is not true of the western states. In the mountains of the West, many mountain slopes are very steep, long, and covered with (often unstable) rocks and therefore much more prone to landslides/rock slides.
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, stretch more than 3,000 miles from Alaska, through British Columbia (Canada) and the US states of Montana, Wyoming and Colorado, ending in central New Mexico. The open and largely treeless prairies of the Great Plains cover most of the Central states of the US (North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and north-central Texas) and extend westward from these states into the eastern parts of the mountain states – Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. They gradually rise from 3500 to 5000 feet in elevation, ending abruptly at the foot of the front ranges of the Rockies. Driving across the western part of the Great Plains, the Rockies gradually rise - dramatically and majestically above the plains. I first saw this at the age of 16 while traveling west towards Colorado Springs, Colorado and Pikes Peak (which lies immediately behind it). The lyrics of the song "America the Beautiful" were written by Katharine Lee Bates shortly after seeing the majestic view of the Great Plains from atop Pikes Peak.
In Colorado, the plains cover the eastern 2/5 of the state, plateau and canyon country covers the western 1/5 of the state (as well as much of Utah and northern Arizona) and the Rockies cover the central 2/5 of the state. The Colorado Rockies, extend 300 miles from the New Mexico border to the Wyoming border. In the southern part of the state, Tree line is around 12,000 feet in elevation. In the northern part of the state, it is around 11,000 feet in elevation. (By contrast, at Glacier National Park in northwest Montana, Tree line is around 8000 feet. At Mount McKinley in Alaska, Tree line is around 3000 feet.
Most Rocky Mountain summits in Colorado, are above 8000 feet and more than 1500 Colorado points rise above 12,000 feet. The most celebrated of the Colorado peaks are the 54 that rise above 14,000 feet in elevation (by comparison, California has 13 and Washington state has one – Mount Rainier). These 54 peaks are referred to as "Colorado Fourteeners". The country’s highest elevations are concentrated in the Colorado Rockies, therefore, they are considered to be the "crest of the continent". While the Continental divide is located in the Rocky Mountains, only two of the Fourteeners lie on it.
Even though the Colorado Rockies receive more rain than the rest of the state (due to elevation), they are still rather arid (dry) - their vegetation is not very dense. However, they are characterized by massive peaks, ragged ridges, flower-sprinkled meadows, sheltered valleys, serene lakes and cascading streams. They are also known for clear blue skies, trembling golden aspen leaves (in the fall) and world-renowned dry-powder snow (in the winter). They are also an important habitat for a great deal of well-known wildlife, such as elk, moose, mule and white-tailed deer, pronghorn, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, badgers, black bears, grizzly bears, coyotes, lynxes, and wolverines.
The Cascade Range (or Cascades) extends from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains as well as volcanic mountains. The latter are called the High Cascades – and they tower over the (lower) Cascade ranges. The highest peak in the range is Mount Rainier at 14,411 feet. The range contains four national parks – Lassen Volcanic(CA), Crater Lake(OR), Mount Rainier(WA) and North Cascades(WA), the first three of which are volcanoes. It also includes several other, generally well-known volcanic peaks - Mount Saint Helens, which erupted in 1980 (in Washington), Mount Shasta (in California ) and Mount Hood (in Oregon).
The Sierra Nevada is a mountain range between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. It runs 400 miles north-to-south, and is approximately 70 miles across east-to-west. Notable Sierra features include Lake Tahoe and Mount Whitney (at 14,505 feet, the highest point in the contiguous United States). The Sierra Nevada also contains three national parks – Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon.
Both I (Upward Call) and The Climber have visited these mountains. Neither of us have climbed any of the peaks. However, we have hiked at various places in these mountains (both the Sierra Nevada and the Cascades) and taken photographs. I anticipate adding selected photographs from these trips to this website, probably during the winter of 2019 – 2020.
The term Pacific Coast Ranges (or Coast Ranges) refers to the ranges between northwest Washington state and the California-Mexico border. These include (only) the ranges west of Puget Sound, the Willamette Valley and the California Central Valley (made up of the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys).
I have traveled most of the Pacific coast from northwest Washington to Southern California. The areas of highest interest along the Pacific coast are Olympic National Park (WA) and Redwood National and State Parks in California. The redwood parks extend from the Oregon border south to about 50 miles south of the San Francisco area. I anticipate adding some photos from these trips to this website, also during the winter of 2019 – 2020.