Bannock Mountain is a

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

in the

North Cascades The North Cascades are a section of the Cascade Range of western North America. They span the border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

state.

Description

Bannock Mountain is located east of

Darrington, Washington Darrington is a town in Snohomish County, Washington, Snohomish County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. It is located in a North Cascades mountain valley formed by the Sauk River (Washington), Sauk and Stillaguamish River, North F ...

, in the heart of the

Glacier Peak Wilderness Glacier Peak Wilderness is a , , wilderness area located within portions of Chelan County, Washington, Chelan, Snohomish County, Washington, Snohomish, and Skagit County, Washington, Skagit counties in the North Cascades of Washington (state), ...

, on land managed by

Mount Baker–Snoqualmie National Forest The Mount Baker–Snoqualmie National Forest in Washington (state), Washington is a United States National Forest, National Forest extending more than along the western slopes of the Cascade Range from the Canada–United States border, Canada� ...

and

Okanogan–Wenatchee National Forest The Okanogan–Wenatchee National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in Okanogan County, Washington, Okanogan County in north-central Washington (state), Washington, United States. The forest is bordered on the north by British Columbia, ...

. The mountain is situated on the crest of the

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington (state), Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as m ...

, along the common border shared by Snohomish County and Chelan County. Precipitation runoff from the mountain's east slope drains to the Stehekin River via Agnes Creek, whereas the west slope drains into Sulphur Creek and the south slope into Canyon Creek, which are both tributaries of the

Suiattle River The Suiattle River ( ) is a river in the northern Cascade Mountains of western Washington (state), Washington, United States. It is a tributary of the Sauk River (Washington), Sauk River and by extension the Skagit River. Its source is located ...

Topographic relief Terrain (), alternatively relief or topographical relief, is the dimension and shape of a given surface of land. In physical geography, terrain is the lay of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientati ...

is significant as the summit rises above Sulphur Creek in and above Bannock Lakes in one-half mile (0.8 km). The

first ascent In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in climbing guidebook, guide books), is the first successful documented climb to the top of a mountain or the top of a particular climbing route. Early 20th-century mountaineers a ...

of the summit was made on July 28, 1936, by Hermann Ulrichs, Art Johnson, and Dwight Watson. The mountain's toponym has been officially adopted by the

United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a Federal government of the United States, federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geogr ...

, and refers to

bannock Bannock may mean: * Bannock (British and Irish food), a kind of bread, cooked on a stone or griddle served mainly in Scotland but consumed throughout the British Isles * Bannock (Indigenous American food), various types of bread, usually prepare ...

, which is a variety of

flatbread A flatbread is bread made usually with flour; water, milk, yogurt, or other liquid; and salt, and then thoroughly rolled into flattened dough. Many flatbreads are Unleavened bread, unleavened, although some are leavened, such as pita bread. A Se ...

quick bread Quick bread is any bread leavened with a chemical leavening agent rather than a biological one like Baker's yeast, yeast or Sourdough#Starter, sourdough starter. An advantage of quick breads is their ability to be prepared quickly and reliably, w ...

that early surveyors prepared over campfires.

Geology

Subduction and tectonic activity in the area began during the

late cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''cre ...

period Period may refer to: Common uses * Period (punctuation) * Era, a length or span of time *Menstruation, commonly referred to as a "period" Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (o ...

, about . The area was previously an oceanic environment, consisting mainly of

sedimentary Sedimentary rocks are types of rock formed by the cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or deposited at Earth's surface. Sedime ...

and

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

rocks.Beckey, Fred W. Cascade Alpine Guide, Climbing and High Routes. Seattle, WA: Mountaineers Books, 2008. Extensive volcanic activity began to take place in the

oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

, about . However,

mountain building Mountain formation occurs due to a variety of geological processes associated with large-scale movements of the Earth's crust (List of tectonic plates, tectonic plates). Fold (geology), Folding, Fault (geology), faulting, Volcano, volcanic acti ...

in the area did not begin until the

miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

, approximately . Bannock Mountain is located in the Cloudy Pass

batholith A batholith () is a large mass of intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock (also called plutonic rock), larger than in area, that forms from cooled magma deep in the Earth's crust. Batholiths are almost always made mostly of felsic or intermediate ...

, an intrusive formation that was formed approximately , during the early miocene.Fred W. Cater, ''The Cloudy Pass epizonal batholith and associated subvolcanic rocks''
USGS, 1969.

Glacier Peak Glacier Peak or Dakobed (known in the Sauk-Suiattle dialect of the Lushootseed language as "Tda-ko-buh-ba" or "Takobia") is the most isolated of the five major stratovolcanoes (composite volcanoes) of the Cascade Volcanoes, Cascade Volcanic Arc ...

, a

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with ...

that is south of Bannock Mountain, began forming in the mid-

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

. Due to Glacier Peak's proximity to Bannock Mountain,

volcanic ash Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, produced during volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used to r ...

is quite common in the area. Throughout the

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

, the North Cascades were mostly covered in thick glaciers, extending to near

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ; ) is a complex estuary, estuarine system of interconnected Marine habitat, marine waterways and basins located on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As a part of the Salish Sea, the sound ...

. Glaciation was most prevalent approximately , and most valleys were ice-free by . As a result, valleys in the area are deep and

u-shaped Many shapes have metaphorical names, i.e., their names are metaphors: these shape A shape is a graphics, graphical representation of an object's form or its external boundary, outline, or external Surface (mathematics), surface. It is distinc ...

, and mountains tend to be rocky, with steep slopes and narrow summits.

Climate

Bannock Mountain is located in the

marine west coast An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring co ...

climate zone of western North America. Most

weather front A weather front is a boundary separating air masses for which several characteristics differ, such as air density, wind, temperature, and humidity. Disturbed and unstable weather due to these differences often arises along the boundary. For ins ...

s originating in the Pacific Ocean travel northeast toward the Cascade Mountains. As fronts approach the North Cascades, they are forced upward by the peaks (

orographic lift Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and cr ...

), causing them to drop their moisture in the form of rain or snowfall onto the Cascades. As a result, the west side of the North Cascades experiences high precipitation, especially during the winter months in the form of snowfall. Because of maritime influence, snow tends to be wet and heavy, resulting in high avalanche danger. During winter months weather is usually cloudy, but due to high pressure systems over the Pacific Ocean that intensify during summer months, there is often little or no cloud cover during the summer. Due to its temperate climate and proximity to the Pacific Ocean, areas west of the Cascade Crest very rarely experience temperatures below or above . The months of July through September offer the most favorable weather for viewing or climbing this peak.

References

External links

* Bannock Mountain
weather forecast
{{Portal bar, Geography, Geology, Mountains Mountains of Snohomish County, Washington Mountains of Chelan County, Washington Two-thousanders of the United States North Cascades of Washington (state) Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest Wenatchee National Forest

Description

Geology

Climate

See also

References

External links