Ever Wild: A Lifetime on Mount Adams

6 Ever Wild
From the shore of Takhlakh
Lake, a grand view of the
northwest face is one of the
most impressive around the
base of Mount Adams.
Wilderness Act of 1964, which permanently protected 9.1 million acres
of national forest lands in thirteen western states. The Mount Adams
Wilderness, along with Goat Rocks and Glacier Peak, were the first three in
Washington to be included in the original Act. Today the system contains
more than seven hundred fifty wilderness areas totaling more than one hundred
ten million acres from coast to coast—within national parks, national
forests, national wildlife refuges, and Bureau of Land Management lands.
Still, Mount Adams remained little understood, “overlooked” for many
years. Here stands one of the great ice-covered sentinels in the Cascade
Range. At 12,276 feet, it is the second-highest peak in the Pacific Northwest,
exceeded only by world-famous Mount Rainier. Dominating a vast region
of the Columbia River, the volcano towers two miles above the valleys of
southern Washington and covers more than two hundred thirty square
miles. Its massive, glaciated bulk is prominent on the horizons of population
centers in two states and visible from as far away as 155 miles in
the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon. Sacred to Native Americans
across the millennia, Adams is also called “Pahto” by the Yakama Nation;
scholars like anthropologist Eugene Hunn use the name Pátu, meaning
“snow-topped mountain.” Much of the volcano is now protected as designated
national forest wilderness or by primitive area stewardship by the
Yakama Nation.
With an eruptive volume of about forty-eight cubic miles, Mount Adams
ranks among the most prominent of the world’s stratovolcanoes. Its lava
flows, old and new, would cover Manhattan Island three miles deep. In the
Cascades only Mount Shasta in northern California has greater volume.
Mount Rainier is 2,100 feet higher and much bulkier above timberline;
but because Rainier is perched on a non-volcanic pedestal, its eruptive
volume is only about two-thirds that of Adams. Oregon’s highest peak,
Mount Hood, is a thousand feet lower than Mount Adams and by volume
just one-fourth as large.
The true character of Mount Adams cannot be fully appreciated without
circling and observing the whole mountain. It’s a changing landscape of
magnificent, unspoiled beauty. At least eight rugged faces are revealed,
and no two are alike. The incomparable east face is distinguished by
five glaciers, three great ridges, and some of the wildest precipices in