Mount Adams

Mount Adams stands 12,281 feet in the southern Washington Cascades, the second-highest peak in the state and one of the largest volcanoes by volume in the Cascade Range. It lacks the symmetry of Rainier or the notoriety of St. Helens, but its sheer mass is extraordinary: a broad, heavily glaciated cone that covers more area than any neighboring volcano. Twelve glaciers cling to its flanks, feeding rivers that drain into both the Columbia and the Yakima.

This map reveals the mountain’s massive footprint. The contour lines spread wide across the lower slopes, reflecting the gentle grade of an enormous volcanic pile, then tighten steadily toward the summit where the terrain steepens. The deep glacial valleys that radiate from the peak, particularly the Klickitat and Adams glaciers, carve pronounced notches into the otherwise continuous contour bands, signatures of ice still actively reshaping the mountain.