Oregon Hikers

Since I didn't need to be home to hand out candy this Halloween, I spent all day hiking up to Mt Margaret instead. The Johnston Ridge Observatory itself is closed for the season, the road and parking lot are still open and that's where I started. There were maybe a dozen other cars in the lot when I arrived a little after 8am, and about as many when I left around 5:30. The views were spectacular all day, I'm always struck by how rugged the terrain is up there. The fall colors were vibrant, and there was zero snow anywhere in the backcountry. It's a great time to get up there.



Rainier and Adams appear about the same size from here, despite Rainier being almost twice as far away as the crow flies. Its one more reminder of how massive Rainier really is. Whittier Ridge in the foreground, that's a hike for another day.

Almost back to JRO, the light was getting really soft as sunset approached. This was maybe 45 minutes before sunset. After sunset the drive back towards I5 was a light show in the Western sky.

rubiks wrote: ↑

November 1st, 2020, 6:04 pm

Rainier and Adams appear about the same size from here, despite Rainier being almost twice as far away as the crow flies. Its one more reminder of how massive Rainier really is.

I've seen statements that Adams is larger, but I've failed to find a single reliable source that compares the two mountains by the same criteria. One interesting factoid from USGS: Adams has produced a larger volume of eruptive material during the past million years than any other Cascade stratovolcano except Mount Shasta.

As a glacier lover, I'm most interested in surface area covered by ice, by which criteria Rainier kicks butt! And of course it's higher.

Chip Down wrote: ↑

November 6th, 2020, 12:38 pm

I've seen statements that Adams is larger, but I've failed to find a single reliable source that compares the two mountains by the same criteria. One interesting factoid from USGS: Adams has produced a larger volume of eruptive material during the past million years than any other Cascade stratovolcano except Mount Shasta.

I think that "recent eruptive material" measurement is how Adams ends up with more volume than Rainier: less of it has been eroded away, because it's newer AND it's on the dry side of the Cascades, where there's less erosion. Rainier's erosive features make it seem more majestic, with deep valleys and sub-peaks extending miles from the summit, whereas Adams is mostly just a wide smooth cone below the tree line.

Not only that, but Adams probably sits on a lower platform than Rainier; it may be that they're both considered to be about 10,000' of volcano above the basement rocks.

Chip Down wrote: ↑

November 6th, 2020, 12:38 pm

As a glacier lover, I'm most interested in surface area covered by ice, by which criteria Rainier kicks butt!

If I recall from the book "On Mt Hood," Rainier has more frozen water (snow/ice) than the rest of the Cascade volcanoes combined. Though it's clear that Rainier is enormous (I find it hard to believe that Adams is "larger" by any measurement), but potentially that also has to do with more of it being higher and thus colder. Where is a geoscientist when you need one...

Bosterson wrote: ↑

November 6th, 2020, 1:26 pm

Chip Down wrote: ↑

November 6th, 2020, 12:38 pm

As a glacier lover, I'm most interested in surface area covered by ice, by which criteria Rainier kicks butt!

If I recall from the book "On Mt Hood," Rainier has more frozen water (snow/ice) than the rest of the Cascade volcanoes combined. Though it's clear that Rainier is enormous (I find it hard to believe that Adams is "larger" by any measurement), but potentially that also has to do with more of it being higher and thus colder. Where is a geoscientist when you need one...

Someone else mentioned this, but it also has to do with its climatological location. Mt. Rainier sits in the far western Cascades, relatively close to the Puget Sound, with little in the way of high peaks between it and a good moisture source. This west side location combined with its height means it gets a ton of snowfall and much cooler warm seasons than the Mt. Adams area. All this combined makes for a much larger glacial mass on Rainier, which of course causes its rugged, heavily eroded look.

I think Mt. Adams is technically more volumnious, but that is mostly due to its huge, wide base, much of which extends well below tree line. As far as the volume of the part of the mountain that we all think of as the mountain, which has glacial influence and is above tree line, Rainier wins hands down.