The Washington High Five is inspired by the five glaciated stratovolcanoes that anchor the skyline of Washington State, the deep mountaineering history of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, and the lineage of long-form FKTs that gather groups of peaks and reward endurance, glacier travel, scrambling, off-trail navigation, and self-supported logistics (for example, the Oregon Volcanic Skyline Route, the Washington 100 Highest, the California 14ers, Nolan’s 14, the Glacier National Park 10k Peaks, and the Alps 4000m).
As with those routes, this is an open course.
Washington’s volcanoes differ in character from the syncopated volcanic line of Oregon to the south and the isolated giants of northern California. Where Oregon’s Cascade Volcanic Arc runs as a relatively continuous skyline from Mount Hood to Mount McLaughlin, Washington’s five major volcanoes stand much farther apart, separated by the deep, heavily glaciated, and largely trail-poor terrain of the North and Central Cascades. Mount Baker dominates the far north near the Canadian border. Glacier Peak sits buried in wilderness as the most remote of the five. The Mount Rainier massif rises near the center of the state, carrying Little Tahoma on its eastern flank as an eroded remnant of an ancestral, higher Rainier. Mount Adams stands to the south, the second-highest summit in the state and the easternmost volcano except for Glacier Peak. Linking them requires crossing the spine of the Cascades repeatedly rather than following a single crest, which distinguishes this effort from skyline-style traverses that track one continuous ridge.
These five peaks carry names and meaning that predate their survey. Mount Baker is Kweq’ Smánit or Kulshan to the Nooksack and təqʷubəʔ to the Upper Skagit, a name shared with Rainier and anglicized as Tahoma or Tacoma. Glacier Peak is Dakobed, the “Great Parent,” long sacred to the Sauk-Suiattle. Rainier is Tahoma, and Adams is Pahto. The first ascents of these summits span the second half of the nineteenth century, from Baker in 1868 to the systematic survey of Adams in 1901, and the peaks have been climbed, circumnavigated, and linked in countless combinations since. Each is an active volcano on a continuum of hazard, with Rainier and Glacier Peak rated among the most dangerous in the country because of their lahar potential and proximity to populated valleys.
On a clear day from the summit of any one of these peaks, the others are visible across the breadth of the state. From Adams alone an observer can pick out Rainier, Baker, Glacier Peak, and St. Helens to the north and west, with the Oregon volcanoes ranged to the south. The aesthetic of connecting these five summits on foot is itself a compelling reason to draw the line, as is the contrast of terrain between the peaks: maritime glaciers and crevasse fields high on the volcanoes, then deep forested river valleys, then long climbs back to ice. The wilderness areas and national forests that lie between them, including the Mount Baker Wilderness, the Glacier Peak Wilderness, Mount Rainier National Park, and the Mount Adams Wilderness, provide a network of trails that, combined with off-trail travel, allow for a remote and varied passage. For these reasons the line lends itself to a Fastest Known Time.
Each of the five peaks also holds FKTs of its own, whether as a summit, a circumnavigation, or in combination with neighbors, and each has drawn high-level mountain athletes for decades. A linkup of all five would attract athletes whose disciplines combine trail running, glacier mountaineering, navigation, and ultra-distance self-supported logistics. As noted above, comparable routes that have drawn FKT attention include the Oregon Volcanic Skyline Route, the Washington 100 Highest, Nolan’s 14, the Glacier National Park 10k Peaks, the California 14ers, and the Alps 4000m. This would be the most demanding volcano linkup in Washington, exceeding any of the individual peak efforts in scope and combining technical glacier travel on every summit with hundreds of miles of connective travel between them.
The line is proposed as an open course because no single trail follows it. The Pacific Crest Trail passes near or between several of the peaks and offers an efficient connective spine through long stretches, but reaching the summits requires leaving it, and the most efficient passage between trailheads, valleys, and climbing routes will reward creative planning rather than adherence to a fixed track. Each summit demands roped glacier travel and crevasse-rescue competence. The route therefore demands the full combination of endurance, mountaineering, and off-trail navigation across some of the most heavily glaciated terrain in the contiguous United States.
The five peaks, with elevation and prominence in feet:
- Mount Rainier, 14,411ft of elevation, 13,210ft of prominence
- Mount Adams, 12,276ft of elevation, 8,116ft of prominence
- Little Tahoma, 11,138ft of elevation, 818ft of prominence
- Mount Baker, 10,781ft of elevation, 8,830ft of prominence
- Glacier Peak, 10,541ft of elevation, 7,497ft of prominence
Little Tahoma carries far less prominence than the others, since it rises off the eastern flank of Rainier rather than from an independent base. It is included for two reasons. First, by elevation it is the third-highest peak in Washington, and the five summits of this route are precisely the five highest peaks on the Washington 100 Highest, or Bulger List, the historic peakbagging roster compiled by the Bulgers group in 1976 [1, 2]. Ranked by elevation, the list runs Mount Rainier (14,411 ft), Mount Adams (12,276 ft), Little Tahoma (11,138 ft), Mount Baker (10,781 ft), and Glacier Peak (10,541 ft), with the sixth peak, Bonanza Peak, falling to 9,511 ft [2, 3]. These five are therefore the only summits in Washington that exceed 10,000 feet. Second, this distinguishes the line from the obvious alternative of the five named Washington stratovolcanoes, which would substitute Mount St. Helens for Little Tahoma. St. Helens remains a Bulger peak but ranks far down the list and, since losing more than 1,000 feet of its summit in the 1980 eruption, stands at 8,363 ft, well short of the 10,000-foot threshold [3, 4]. Choosing the five highest peaks rather than the five named volcanoes yields a line defined by elevation and by a recognized list, and keeps every summit above 10,000 feet.
The route begins at one of the established trailheads on Mount Baker and runs south across the state, taking in Glacier Peak, the Rainier massif (Little Tahoma and Rainier), and finally Mount Adams. It ends at the South Climb trailhead (Cold Springs) or any of the trailheads on the north side. The order may be reversed, and the precise connective line between peaks is left to the discretion of the athlete, consistent with the open-course format.
[1] Bulgers peakbagging group, Washington 100 Highest (“Bulger List”), compiled 1976. Overview at Best Maps Ever, “Washington 100 Highest ‘Bulger List.’” bestmapsever.com/pages/washington-100-highest-bulger-list
[2] Country Highpoints, “Washington Top 100 Peaks Updated List” (updated 2024), documenting the Bulger List elevation ranking and the 800-foot prominence rule for volcanic subpeaks. countryhighpoints.com/washington-top-100-peaks-updated-list
[3] SummitPost, “Washington Top 100,” elevation-ordered Bulger List (Rainier, Adams, Little Tahoma, Baker, Glacier Peak, then Bonanza Peak). summitpost.org/washington-top-100/171584
[4] U.S. Geological Survey, Cascades Volcano Observatory, Mount St. Helens elevation following the May 18, 1980 eruption (8,363 ft / 2,549 m). usgs.gov/volcanoes/mount-st-helens