The Monashee Mountains are a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

lying mostly in British Columbia, Canada, extending into the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sov ...

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 o ...

. They stretch from north to south and from east to west. They are a sub-range of the

Columbia Mountains The Columbia Mountains are a group of mountain ranges along the upper Columbia River in British Columbia, Montana, Idaho and Washington. The mountain range covers 135,952 km² (52,491 sq mi). The range is bounded by the Rocky Mountain T ...

. The highest summit is Mount Monashee, which reaches . The name is from the

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

''monadh'' and ''sìth,'' meaning "moor" and "peace".

Geography

Kinbasket Lake, Columbia River, British Columbia

The Monashee Mountains are limited on the east by the

Columbia River The Columbia River ( Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, ...

and

Arrow Lakes The Arrow Lakes in British Columbia, Canada, divided into Upper Arrow Lake and Lower Arrow Lake, are widenings of the Columbia River. The lakes are situated between the Selkirk Mountains to the east and the Monashee Mountains to the west. Beach ...

, beyond which lie the

Selkirk Mountains The Selkirk Mountains are a mountain range spanning the northern portion of the Idaho Panhandle, eastern Washington, and southeastern British Columbia which are part of a larger grouping of mountains, the Columbia Mountains. They begin at Mica ...

. They are limited on the west by the upper

North Thompson River The North Thompson River is the northern branch of the Thompson River, the largest tributary of the Fraser River, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It originates at the toe of the Thompson Glacier in the Premier Range of the Cariboo Mou ...

and the

Interior Plateau The Interior Plateau comprises a large region of the Interior of British Columbia, and lies between the Cariboo and Monashee Mountains on the east, and the Hazelton Mountains, Coast Mountains and Cascade Range on the west.''Landforms of British C ...

. The northern end of the range is

Canoe Mountain Canoe Mountain is a stratigraphic ridge in central Pennsylvania, United States, running east of the Allegheny Front and west of Tussey Mountain. It forms a continuous ridge with Brush Mountain to the west. To the south, across the water gap for ...

at the south end of the

Robson Valley The Robson Valley is a geographic region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, comprising the section of the Rocky Mountain Trench that lies southeast of the city of Prince George following the Fraser River to the Yellowhead Pass. The nam ...

, near of the town of

Valemount Valemount () is a village municipality of 1,018 people in east central British Columbia, Canada, from Kamloops, British Columbia. It is between the Rocky, Monashee, and Cariboo Mountains. It is the nearest community to the west of Jasper Natio ...

, British Columbia. The southern extremity of the range is in Washington State, where the

Kettle River Range The Kettle River Range, often called the Kettle Range, is the southernmost range of the Monashee Mountains, located in far southeastern British Columbia, Canada and Ferry County, Washington, in the United States. Most of the northern half of ...

reaches the confluence of the Kettle River and the Columbia, and reaches west to the southern extremity of the Okanagan Highland (spelled Okanogan Highland in the US) just northeast of the confluence of the Okanogan and Columbia rivers at Brewster and

Bridgeport, Washington Bridgeport is a city in Douglas County, Washington. It is part of the Wenatchee− East Wenatchee Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bridgeport's population was 2,409 at the 2010 census. Bridgeport is located near the Chief Joseph Dam. History The ...

. The

Okanagan Highland The Okanagan Highland is an elevated hilly plateau area in British Columbia, Canada, and the U.S. state of Washington (where it is spelled Okanogan Highlands). Rounded mountains with elevations up to above sea level and deep, narrow valleys ...

and parts of the

Shuswap Highland The Shuswap Highland is a plateau-like hilly area of in British Columbia, Canada. It spans the upland area between the Bonaparte and Thompson Plateaus from the area of Mahood Lake, at the southeast corner of the Cariboo Plateau, southeast towar ...

to the west of the main range are technically classified as part of the Monashees, however, they may also be considered part of the Interior Plateau. The Okanagan Highland lies between the Kettle River and

Okanagan Lake Okanagan Lake ( oka, kɬúsx̌nítkw) is a lake in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada. The lake is long, between wide, and has a surface area of 348 km2 (135 sq. mi.). Hydrography Okanagan Lake is called a fjord lake as ...

, south of the

Shuswap River The basin of the Shuswap River (pronounced /ˈʃuːʃwɑːp/) lies northeast of the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, originating in the central Monashee Mountains. It is the upper part of the drainage better known to British Columbians as bel ...

. Within this area, the small Sawtooth Range lies between the uppermost Shuswap River to the east and

Mabel Lake Mabel Lake is a lake located in southern Interior British Columbia, Canada, that is fed by and drained by the Shuswap River. It is located southeast of Shuswap Lake, northeast of Okanagan Lake, and west of the Monashee Mountains, and is popular ...

to the west. The portion of the Shuswap Highland south of the

to the Okanagan Highland, may also be included. Major peaks include Hallam Peak () and Cranberry Mountain ().

Passes

Between Revelstoke and Shuswap Lake, the range is crossed by Highway 1 - the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway ( French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean on ...

- and by the mainline of the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

, which run through Eagle Pass. Highway 6 goes over Monashee Pass. The

Crowsnest Highway The Crowsnest Highway is an east-west highway in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. It stretches across the southern portions of both provinces, from Hope, British Columbia to Medicine Hat, Alberta, providing the shortest highway connection b ...

to the south takes the Bonanza Pass. The southern end of the Monashees within Canada is an historically important mining and former industrial area known as the

Boundary Country The Boundary Country is a historical designation for a district in southern British Columbia lying, as its name suggests, along the boundary between Canada and the United States. It lies to the east of the southern Okanagan Valley and to the west o ...

, which is focused around the basin of the lower Kettle River and extends north toward the Midway Range. The Sherman Pass Scenic Byway runs east from the town of

Republic, Washington Republic is a city in Ferry County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,073 at the 2010 census, a 12.5% increase over the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Ferry County. It was the largest mining camp in the Republic Mining D ...

across the center of the Kettle River Range and reaches its highest point at Sherman Pass, , the highest mountain pass open all year in Washington state.

Subranges

Anstey Range The Anstey Range is a mountain range in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, located east of the Seymour Arm of Shuswap Lake, south of Ratchford Creek and between the Perry River on the east. It has an area of 507 km2 and is a subrange ...

Christina Range The Christina Range is a mountain range in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, located roughly north of Grand Forks, between Lower Arrow Lake and the Granby River. It has an area of 2442 km2 and is a subrange of the Monashee Mountains, ...

Gold Range The Gold Range is a subrange of the Monashee Mountains in the southern British Columbia Interior. This range originally applied to all of the Monashees between the Arrow Lakes and the Okanagan but today only applies to a narrow stretch of the Mon ...

Jordan Range The Jordan Range is a mountain range in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, located northwest of Revelstoke, between the Columbia River and the Perry River, to the north of Three Valley Gap (the summit of Eagle Pass). It has an area of 634 ...

Malton Range The Malton Range is a mountain range in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, located southwest of the Canoe Reach of Kinbasket Lake and east of the Albreda River, north of Dominion Mountain. It has an area of 451 km2 and is a subrange of ...

* Midway Range *

Beaverdell Range The Beaverdell Range is a subrange of the Okanagan Highland in the Southern Interior of British Columbia, located between the West Kettle and Kettle Rivers, and running nearly due south from Big White Mountain, which is its highest summit, and ...

* Sawtooth Range * Ratchford Range * Rossland Range * Scrip Range *

* Whatshan Range

Mountains

Source:Peakbagger.com, Peaks List: ''Monashee Mountains''
/ref> *Mount Monashee, * Hallam Peak, *

Red Mountain (Rossland) Red Mountain is the lower of three mountains that make up the Red Mountain Ski Area. It is nestled within the Monashee Mountains. See also * Red Mountain Ski Resort RED Mountain Resort is a ski resort in western Canada, located on Granite, Gr ...

, *, *Dominion Mountain, *Peak 2892, * Mount Odin, *Gordon Horne Peak, *Cranberry Mountain, *The Pinnacles, *

Mount Begbie Mount Begbie is a mountain summit located in the Gold Range of the Monashee Mountains in British Columbia, Canada. Situated west of the Columbia River high above the shore of Upper Arrow Lake, this prominent peak is visible from the Trans-C ...

, * Mount Copeland, * Mount Tilley, * Mount Albreda,

Sources

External links

Bivouac.com Hiking info and images
{{Interior Ranges of British Columbia Columbia Mountains Interior of British Columbia