The 48 Contiguous United States

The 48 contiguous United States contain the amount of mountainous terrain you might expect when you look at the topography of the whole world. Not as flat as Brazil or Australia, nor as mountainous as China or Europe, one third of the United States is covered with what could unarguably be called mountains. Most of the mountains and all of the higher, more impressive peaks are found in the western third of the country, where the towering volcanos of the Cascade Range and the massive wall of the Sierra Nevada parallel the Pacific Coast, and the high, sprawling Rocky Mountains cover vast areas further inland. Along the Atlantic coast run the lower, more rounded Appalachians, still worthy of the term "mountains", if only barely.

Despite this wealth of ranges, there is a very pronounced lack of true world-class mountains in the Lower 48--"world class" meaning high, rugged, heavily glaciated, awe-inspiring spires of ice and rock such as the Himalayas, the Andes, or the Alps. Many of the peaks of Alaska and western Canada are among the most impressive in the world, but in the contiguous United States the only mountains up to these high standards are a few scattered peaks in Washington State and maybe Oregon: The North Cascades, Mt. Rainier, the Olympic Mountains, and a few other volcanos in that general area.

This lack of world-class mountaineering opportunites is actually one of the best things about U.S. mountains. Unless you are an aspiring Edmund Hillary or Reinhold Messner, glaciated monster mountains offer little in the way of outdoor recreation. The Sierra Nevada, Rockies, and Appalachians, by contrast, are high and rugged enough to offer fantastic scenery and pristine wilderness, but not so high and rugged that only expert mountaineers with piles of expensive gear dare venture into the high country. These ranges are prime country for the hiker, backpacker, scrambler, rock climber, skier, hunter, and fisherman, rather than the hard-core mountaineer.

Separate Essays concerning the 48 U.S. States

Ownership of the Mountains
Mountain Weather
Crowds and Avoiding Them
Eastern vs. Western Mountains

Individual Range Information

In east to west, then north to south order

Olympic Mountains
Intermountain West
White Mountains (CA-NV)
Rocky Mountains
Wind River Mountains
Colorado Rockies
Central Plains
Appalachian Mountains
Longfellow Mountains. (ME)

Individual Peak Information

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