Skip to main content

2017 Washington State Trip Part 1; The Cascades and SeaTac

By
After returning to California from the Southeast region I was back on a plane headed to Washington State.  My flight was from Fresno Yosemite International Airport to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport which is much better known as SeaTac.






I had a little bit of a rarity in that the weather over Washington was completely clear and I could see the Cascades unobstructed out the window.  I had views of just not just Mount Rainier but also Mount Adams and Mount St. Helens.





The Cascade Range roughly runs from California State Route 36 north through British Columbia and is far more volcanic in nature than the Sierras.  Most of the high peaks of the Cascade Range are volcanic and have a large prominence. 

When I visited Washington in 2015 I did go to Mount Rainier National Park.  Most of the day was extremely foggy and I missed being able to see Mount St. Helens from the park overlooks.  Mount St. Helens is a 8,363 foot high stratovolcano that is mostly known for the 1980 eruption.  Prior to the 1980 eruption Mount St. Helens had height of 9,677 feet above sea level.





To the east of Mount St. Helens is the 12,281 foot tall Mount Adams.  Mount Adams is also a stratovolcano but has not had an eruption in about 1,000 years.  The peaks of Mount Adams are covered in active glaciers.


Mount Rainier is probably the most well known mountain peak in the Cascade Range and is the highest in the range at 14,411 feet above sea level.  Mount Rainier is considered to be highly active which is worrying considering the amount of glaciers located on it.  Mount Rainier has a prominence of 13,210 feet which is the 21st highest in the world.  When I visited Mount Rainier National Park in 2015 I took; WA 706, Paradise Road, WA 123, and WA 410 to circle from the Seattle-Tacoma area.





SeaTac is one of my least favorite airports.  I've always found the facilities at SeaTac to way overwhelmed for the passenger volume it receives.  It doesn't help that SeaTac has an off-site rental facility which is probably my largest pet-peeve about airports aside from delays.  After making my way out of the maze of the rental car parking I pulled out of the airport and made my way to southbound I-5.





I-5 was surprisingly a breeze driving south to Tacoma mid-day.  I passed the junction with I-705 and WA 7 in Tacoma.  Back in 2015 I turned south on WA 7 here towards Mount Rainier after returning from Olympic National Park.





My direction of travel was ultimately across Tacoma Narrows on WA 16, but that is worth a blog post dedicated solely to that topic.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

By
In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...
4 comments
Read more

Massena Center Suspension Bridge

By
The Massena Center Bridge, also known as the Holton D. Robinson Bridge, has had quite the tumultuous history. Situated on the Grasse River just east of Massena, New York in the hamlet of Massena Center, the Massena Center Bridge is a reminder of the efforts the community has made in order to connect over the river. The first and only other known bridge to be built at Massena Center was built in 1832, but that bridge was never long for this world. During the spring of 1833, the Grasse River dammed itself due to an ice dam, flooded and lifted the bridge off its foundation, destroying the bridge in the process.  The floods were frequent in the river during the spring, often backing up the river from Hogansburg and past Massena Center, but not to nearby Massena. After the first bridge disappeared, local residents had to resort to traveling seven miles west to Massena to cross the next closest bridge, and that was no easy task for a horse and buggy. However, it was many decades befo...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Dead Man's Curve of Interstate 90 and Innerbelt Freeway in Cleveland

By
"Dead Man's Curve" refers to the transition ramp Interstate 90 takes between Cleveland Memorial Shoreway onto the Innerbelt Freeway in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.  Said curve includes a sharp transition between the two freeways which is known for a high rate of accidents.  Currently the curve (not officially named) has a 35 MPH advisory speed and numerous safety features intended to mitigate crashes.  When the Interstate System was first conceived during 1956, Interstate 90 was intended to use the entirety Cleveland Memorial Shoreway and connect to the Northwest Freeway through Lakewood.  The Innerbelt Freeway was initially planned as the northernmost segment of Interstate 71.  The extension of Cleveland Memorial Shoreway west of Edgewater Park was never constructed which led to Interstate 90 being routed through the Innerbelt Freeway.   Part 1; the history of Cleveland's Innerbelt Freeway and Deadman's Curve The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 was signe...
Post a Comment
Read more