Mount Aix is a mountain summit centrally located in the

William O. Douglas Wilderness The William O. Douglas Wilderness is a designated wilderness in Central Washington. It includes located between the U.S. Route 12 and State Route 410 and is jointly administered by the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest and the Gifford Pincho ...

on land administered by the

Wenatchee National Forest Wenatchee National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in Washington. With an area of 1,735,394 acres (2,711.55 sq mi, or 7,022.89 km²), it extends about 137 miles along the eastern slopes of the Cascade Range of Washington, USA from ...

, and is the highest point in that wilderness area. It is also 24 miles east-southeast of

Mount Rainier Mount Rainier (), indigenously known as Tahoma, Tacoma, Tacobet, or təqʷubəʔ, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, located in Mount Rainier National Park about south-southeast of Seattle. With a ...

Yakima County Yakima County is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 256,728. The county seat and largest city is Yakima. The county was formed out of Ferguson County in January 1865 and is named for the Yakama t ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

state. Mount Aix is situated east of the crest of the Cascade Range, southeast of

Bumping Lake Bumping Lake is a lake and reservoir along the course of the Bumping River, in Yakima County, Washington state, USA. Bumping Lake has also named as "Lake Plehnam" by Preston's Map of Oregon and Washington in the 1850s, and "Tannum Lake" by th ...

, north of

Bismarck Peak Bismarck Peak is a 7,585-foot-elevation (2,312 meter) mountain summit centrally located in the William O. Douglas Wilderness on land administered by the Wenatchee National Forest. It is also 24 miles east-southeast of Mount Rainier in Yakima C ...

, and northwest of

Rimrock Lake Rimrock Lake is a lake along the course of the Tieton River, in Yakima County, Washington state, US. The lake is used as a storage reservoir for the Yakima Project, an irrigation project run by the United States Bureau of Reclamation. An impou ...

. Its nearest higher peak is Tieton Peak in the

Goat Rocks Wilderness Goat Rocks Wilderness is a U.S. wilderness area in Washington, United States, comprising of Okanagan–Wenatchee National Forest and Gifford Pinchot National Forest on the crest of the Cascade Range south of U.S. Highway 12. Its central fea ...

, to the south-southwest. Mount Aix is the highest peak in the entire region which is east of

Mount Rainier National Park Mount Rainier National Park is an American national park located in southeast Pierce County and northeast Lewis County in Washington state. The park was established on March 2, 1899, as the fourth national park in the United States, preservin ...

, north of

, west of

Yakima Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, and the state's 11th-largest city by population. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The uni ...

, and south of

Mount Daniel Mount Daniel is the highest summit on the Cascade Range crest of Alpine Lakes Wilderness of the central Washington, USA. It is the highest point in King and Kittitas counties. Streams on its eastern slopes form the headwaters of the Cle Elum ...

(

Alpine Lakes Wilderness The Alpine Lakes Wilderness is a large wilderness area spanning the Central Cascades of Washington state in the United States. The wilderness is located in parts of Wenatchee National Forest and Snoqualmie National Forest, and is approximately bo ...

), so it is quite prominent. Prior to 1897 (when Mount Aix was officially recognized by the

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

) the name was spelled as Mount Aiks on early survey maps and publications.

Climate

Mount Aix is located east of the Cascade crest. 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 ...

s originate in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

, and travel northeast toward the

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

. As fronts approach, they are forced upward by the peaks of the Cascade Range (

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 east side of the Cascades experiences less precipitation than the west side of the crest. 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.Beckey, Fred W. Cascade Alpine Guide, Climbing and High Routes. Seattle, WA: Mountaineers Books, 2008. Precipitation

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...

from Mount Aix drains into tributaries of the

Yakima River The Yakima River is a tributary of the Columbia River in south central and eastern Washington state, named for the indigenous Yakama people. Lewis and Clark mention in their journals that the Chin-nâm pam (or the Lower Snake River Chamnapam ...

, thence into the Columbia River.

References

External links

* Weather forecast
Mount Aix
* National Forest Service web site
William O Douglas Wilderness
* Washington Trails Association web site
Mount Aix Trail
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aix Cascade Range Mountains of Washington (state) Mountains of Yakima County, Washington North American 2000 m summits

Climate

See also

References

External links