Picket Range North Cascades National Park

The Picket Range is a small, extremely rugged subrange of the

North Cascades The North Cascades are a section of the Cascade Range of western North America. They span the border between the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington and are officially named in the U.S. and Canada as the Casca ...

in the northwestern part of the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

state 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 o ...

. It is entirely contained within North Cascades National Park. It is about long, running northwest–southeast, and lies north of the

Skagit River The Skagit River ( ) is a river in southwestern British Columbia in Canada and northwestern Washington in the United States, approximately 150 mi (240 km) long. The river and its tributaries drain an area of 1.7 million acres (690,000& ...

, west of Ross Lake, and east of Mounts Baker and Shuksan. There are at least 21 peaks in the range over high.

Swedish American Swedish Americans ( sv, svenskamerikaner) are Americans of Swedish ancestry. They include the 1.2 million Swedish immigrants during 1865–1915, who formed tight-knit communities, as well as their descendants and more recent immigrants. Today, ...

Lage Wernstedt of the U.S. Forest Service mapped the Picket Range in the 1920s and named it for its resemblance to a

picket fence Picket fences are a type of fence often used decoratively for domestic boundaries, distinguished by their evenly spaced vertical boards, the ''pickets'', attached to horizontal rails. Picket fences are particularly popular in the United States, ...

(and not for

George Pickett George Edward Pickett (January 16,Military records cited by Eicher, p. 428, and Warner, p. 239, list January 28. The memorial that marks his gravesite in Hollywood Cemetery lists his birthday as January 25. Thclaims to have accessed the baptism ...

). Wernstedt was also apparently responsible for the names of the main peaks, including Mt. Challenger, Fury, Terror, and Phantom. These names first appeared on maps in 1931. There are few trails in the Picket Range, and any excursion there has a strong wilderness character. Most of the access points are characterized as steep brush thick valleys, with little open terrain. Many of the peaks are challenging rock climbs. The rock is biotite

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures a ...

, formed by metamorphism of sedimentary and volcanic rocks about 100 million years ago. The Picket Range is home to many of the North Cascades' classic climbs and many of its best technical climbs. The rugged terrain has attracted many photographers to the range, creating some of the most spectacular images in the national park. The rugged and sharp peaks are unmatched in steepness and jaggedness by any other ranges in the lower 48 American states. This has made it a popular area in the National Park, and has contributed to the Cascades' title of "The American Alps". Picket Range from Trappers Peak 1990

A theodolite survey of West and East Fury on Oct 22, 2022, established the altitudes of the two peaks of Fury. West Fury was set at 8,305ft +/-10 feet and East Fury as 8,356 +/- 8ft. This moved Luna Peak from the highest mountain in the Picket Range to the second highest.

Notable Peaks of the Picket Range

References

External links

The Picket Range on Summitpost
* * Photo of entire Picket Range
Flickr
{{Authority control North Cascades of Washington (state) Mountain ranges of Washington (state) North Cascades National Park

Notable Peaks of the Picket Range

See also

References

External links