Hibox Mountain is a mountain summit located in the
Cascade Range
The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...
in
Kittitas County
Kittitas County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. At the 2020 census, its population was 44,337. Its county seat and largest city is Ellensburg. The county was created in November 1883 when it was carved out of Yakima Coun ...
Snoqualmie Pass
Snoqualmie Pass is a mountain pass that carries Interstate 90 (I-90) through the Cascade Range in the U.S. state of Washington. The pass summit is at an elevation of , on the county line between Kittitas County and King County.
Snoqualmie Pass ...
, and
Alta Mountain
Alta Mountain is a mountain summit located in Kittitas County of Washington state.
It is set within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness which is part of the Cascade Range. Alta Mountain is situated on land managed by Wenatchee National Forest. Precip ...
lies 1.5 miles to the west-northwest of Hibox. 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 the mountain drains into Box Canyon Creek and Mineral Creek which both empty to
Kachess Lake
Kachess Lake () is a lake and reservoir along the course of the Kachess River in Washington state, US. The upper part of the lake, north of a narrows, is called Little Kachess Lake. The Kachess River flows into the lake from the north, and out fr ...
. Topographic relief is significant as the summit rises above Box Canyon in one mile (1.6 km).
Climate
Hibox Mountain is located in the marine west coast climate zone of western North America.Beckey, Fred W. Cascade Alpine Guide, Climbing and High Routes. Seattle, WA: Mountaineers Books, 2008.Weather fronts originating in the Pacific Ocean 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 or snow onto the Cascades. As a result, the Cascades experience 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 avalanche 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.
Geology
The Alpine Lakes Wilderness features some of the most rugged topography in the
Cascade Range
The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...
with craggy peaks and ridges, deep glacial valleys, and granite walls spotted with over 700 mountain lakes. Geological events occurring many years ago created the diverse topography and drastic elevation changes over the Cascade Range leading to the various climate differences. These climate differences lead to vegetation variety defining the ecoregions in this area. The elevation range of this area is between about in the lower elevations to over on Mount Stuart.
The history of the formation of the Cascade Mountains dates back millions of years ago to the late Eocene Epoch. With the North American Plate overriding the
Pacific Plate
The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At , it is the largest tectonic plate.
The plate first came into existence 190 million years ago, at the triple junction between the Farallon, Phoenix, and Iza ...
, episodes of volcanic igneous activity persisted. In addition, small fragments of the oceanic and continental lithosphere called terranes created the North Cascades about 50 million years ago.
During the Pleistocene period dating back over two million years ago, glaciation advancing and retreating repeatedly scoured the landscape leaving deposits of rock debris. The last glacial retreat in the Alpine Lakes area began about 14,000 years ago and was north of the Canada–US border by 10,000 years ago. The U-shaped cross section of the river valleys is a result of that recent glaciation.
Uplift
Uplift may refer to: Science
* Geologic uplift, a geological process
** Tectonic uplift, a geological process
* Stellar uplift, the theoretical prospect of moving a stellar mass
* Uplift mountains
* Llano Uplift
* Nemaha Uplift
Business
* Uplif ...
and faulting in combination with glaciation have been the dominant processes which have created the tall peaks and deep valleys of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area.
See also
*
*
List of peaks of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness
The Alpine Lakes Wilderness contains a number of mountain peaks and ranges:
Snoqualmie peaks
* Kaleetan Peak —
* Chair Peak (Washington), Chair Peak —
* Denny Mountain —
* Guye Peak —
* Hibox Mountain —
* Sno ...