Dege Peak is a 7,006-foot (2,135 m) summit located in Pierce County of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

state. It is part of the Sourdough Mountains in

Mount Rainier National Park Mount Rainier National Park is an American national park located in southeast Pierce County and northeast Lewis County in Washington state. The park was established on March 2, 1899, as the fourth national park in the United States, preservi ...

. It was named in 1932 for James Henry Dege (born 1868), a prominent Tacoma businessman and Captain of the First Regiment National Guard of Washington.Notable Men of Washington. Perkins Press, 1912. His mother was a descendant of President Zachary Taylor. The peak is a popular hiking destination with views of the

Emmons Glacier Emmons Glacier is on the northeast flank of Mount Rainier, in Washington. At , it has the largest surface area of any glacier in the contiguous United States. The glacier was named after the geologist Samuel Franklin Emmons after his involvement i ...

, Winthrop Glacier,

Inter Glacier The Inter Glacier or Interglacier is a small glacier on the northeast face of Mount Rainier in Washington. The body of ice has a volume of 0.6 billion feet3 (17 million m3) and covers an area of 0.3 mile2 (0.8 km2). The glacier lies on top o ...

Fryingpan Glacier Fryingpan Glacier is on the eastern face of the Little Tahoma Peak, just to the east of Mount Rainier in the U.S. state of Washington. The glacier is located on top of a cliff from the Emmons Glacier to the north and a small ridge separates this ...

Little Tahoma Peak Little Tahoma Peak, also called Little Tahoma, is a satellite peak of Mount Rainier in Pierce County, Washington and in Mount Rainier National Park. It is quite noticeable from Seattle over away. Little Tahoma Peak is a volcanic remnant. It ...

, and views in all directions because the trail is above

tree line The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually cold temperatures, extreme snowp ...

. The trail starts at the Sunrise Historic District. Access is limited by snowpack closing the Sunrise Road much of the year. July, August, and September are the months when the Sunrise Road is seasonally open for vehicle traffic. Antler Peak is its nearest higher neighbor, to the west. Precipitation

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...

from Dege Peak drains into the White River.

Climate

Dege Peak is located in the marine west coast climate zone of western

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

.Beckey, Fred W. Cascade Alpine Guide, Climbing and High Routes. Seattle, WA: Mountaineers Books, 2008. Most weather fronts originate in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, and travel northeast toward the Cascade Mountains. As fronts approach, they are forced upward by the peaks of the Cascade Range ( Orographic lift), causing them to drop their moisture in the form of

rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...

snowfall Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

onto the Cascades. As a result, the west side of the Cascades experiences high precipitation, especially during the winter months in the form of snowfall. Because of maritime influence, snow tends to be wet and heavy, resulting in high

avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and earth ...

danger. During winter months, weather is usually cloudy, but due to high pressure systems over the Pacific Ocean that intensify during summer months, there is often little or no cloud cover during the summer. The months July through September offer the most favorable weather for viewing or climbing this peak.

References

External links

* * National Park Service web site
Mount Rainier National Park
* Weather
Dege Peak
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200115085939/https://www.yr.no/place/United_States/Washington/Dege_Peak/ , date=2020-01-15 * Dege Peak
YouTube
Cascade Range Mountains of Pierce County, Washington Mountains of Washington (state) Mount Rainier National Park North American 2000 m summits Cascade Volcanoes

Climate

See also

References

External links