Coast Ranges of Western
North America
Mimulus lewisii
Castilleja sp.
Viola adunca
Fritillaria lanceolata
Penstemon fruticosus
Lilium columbianum
Claytonia lanceolata
Penstemon davidsonii var menziesii
Erythronium grandiflorum
Phlox diffusa
Ribes sanguineum
Rhododendron macrophyllum
SOME PLANTS OF THE COAST RANGES
The western coast of North America is defined by coastal ranges of mountains running from California to Alaska and the Yukon. The coastal mountains are comprised of the Olympic, Cascade, Shulap and numerous other mountain ranges; some large ranges like the Cascades, others medium-sized like the Olympic Mountains and others quite small like the Shulap Mountains. Of these mountains, the Cascade Range stretches about 1200 kilometers from northern California, to southern British Columbia. It runs more or less parallel to the Pacific coast about 150 to 250 Km inland. The western slopes of this range are subject to high snow loads in the winter and comparatively wet summers. These mountains shield the interior regions inland to the Rocky Mountains from the prevailing weather of the Pacific Ocean and give rise to the dry belt areas of British Columbia, Washington and Oregon.
Throughout the coast ranges of mountains a diverse geological history that encompassed mountain uplift, volcanism, and glacial advances and recessions provided evolutionary selection forces that acted on floras originating from the south, the west (amphipacific), the north (circumpolar), and the east. These forces gave rise to the floristic diversity that is found now.
HIKES
COAST MOUNTAINS
BRITISH COLUMBIA, Slim Creek hike , Erigeron species
CASCADE RANGE
BRITISH COLUMBIA, Mount Frosty hike, Lewisia tweedyi
BRITISH COLUMBIA, Ashnola Hills hike, Rhododendron albiflorum
BRITISH COLUMBIA, Three Brothers hike, Anemone occidentalis
OREGON, Mount Bachelor hike, Hulsea nana
OREGON, Tom Dick and Harry Mountain, Anemone deltoidea
WASHINGTON, Skyline Divide-Chowder Ridge, Eriogonum umbellatum
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