Washington, Lewis County, near Packwood
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Before Euro-Americans arrived, Native people crossed the mountains on rugged trails to visit relatives, trade with other tribes, and gather food for winter. Later, prospectors, sheepherders, settlers and early Forest Service rangers used the same trails on foot or horseback. In the late 1800's, engineers explored this area to find a route for the Northern Pacific Railroad. The mountains were too steep. Not until 1951 was Highway 12 completed across the mountains.
Present: Travel through a geologic wonderland
Today, highways provide easy access to many fascinating sites to see and things to do. Highway 12 passes through one of the most interesting geologic landscapes in Washington. Here, travelers can see volcanoes of many kinds, shapes, and sizes.
A Cinder cones are smaller with steep sides, usually basalt from a single eruption.
Spiral Butte is an example of a cinder cone.
B Large strato-volcanoes, layered cones of lava, ash and rock tower above surrounding peaks.
Strato-volcanoes include Mt. Ranier, Mount St. Helens and Mt. Adams.
C Shield volcanoes, named for their low, flattened shape, form from thin basalt lava flows.
Shield volcanoes are difficult to see because of their low profile.
D Intrusions were formed when lava solidified underground and surrounding material eroded away.
Goose Egg Mountain was formed from an intrusion.
(Top Center Drawing Caption)
Beautiful coiled baskets made from cedar roots and dyed ryegrass were used to carry roots, berries and as trade items.
(Top Right Drawing Caption)
White Pass was named for Charles A. White, one of the engineers who explored the area in 1877 to find a railroad route. The drawing above illustrates the difficult conditions an early survey crew may have faced.
(Environment • Native Americans • Railroads & Streetcars • Roads & Vehicles) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Before Euro-Americans arrived, Native people crossed the mountains on rugged trails to visit relatives, trade with other tribes, and gather food for winter. Later, prospectors, sheepherders, settlers and early Forest Service rangers used the same trails on foot or horseback. In the late 1800's, engineers explored this area to find a route for the Northern Pacific Railroad. The mountains were too steep. Not until 1951 was Highway 12 completed across the mountains.Present: Travel through a geologic wonderland
Today, highways provide easy access to many fascinating sites to see and things to do. Highway 12 passes through one of the most interesting geologic landscapes in Washington. Here, travelers can see volcanoes of many kinds, shapes, and sizes.
A Cinder cones are smaller with steep sides, usually basalt from a single eruption.
Spiral Butte is an example of a cinder cone.
B Large strato-volcanoes, layered cones of lava, ash and rock tower above surrounding peaks.
Strato-volcanoes include Mt. Ranier, Mount St. Helens and Mt. Adams.
C Shield volcanoes, named for their low, flattened shape, form from thin basalt lava flows.
Shield volcanoes are difficult to see because of their low profile.
D Intrusions were formed when lava solidified underground and surrounding material eroded away.
Goose Egg Mountain was formed from an intrusion.
(Top Center Drawing Caption)
Beautiful coiled baskets made from cedar roots and dyed ryegrass were used to carry roots, berries and as trade items.
(Top Right Drawing Caption)
White Pass was named for Charles A. White, one of the engineers who explored the area in 1877 to find a railroad route. The drawing above illustrates the difficult conditions an early survey crew may have faced.
(Environment • Native Americans • Railroads & Streetcars • Roads & Vehicles) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
The rock before you is a clue to a geologic mystery. Between 110,000 and 20,000 years ago, a volcano erupted about nine miles away. Dacite lava flowed here and stopped, forming an unusually deep pool. Geologists don’t know for sure what blocked the lava. It may have been a glacier or a cliff.
Water! Every drop has a destiny via the continent’s backbone: the Continental Divide.
Adventure! Hiking the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail offers you an enormous challenge.
Wolf Creek Pass! A romantic name - a beautiful but harsh setting.
This fire tower was part of a network of towers that once protected Indiana.
For six hours, the Confederates had been on the attack. Their relentless onslaught had pushed half the Union army back three miles. Tangled cedar woods and rock-filled terrain took their toll. A 1,800-man brigade of tired Tennesseans finally emerged from this tree line at midday. Momentum was slowing. Confidence still ran high.
Clues exposed at the surface help the nearby hills tell their story. Most were formed from abundant volcanic ash-falls and floods of lava over many millions of years. About five million years ago the land-building slowed and erosion cut down into the previous layers resulting in the landscape we see today.
Northern Paiute Indians and a few mountain men were the only residents of the John Day Country before 1860. Cavalry troops passed through the John Day River drainage looking for the best route from the Columbia River to Fort Boise. One company, under the command of Captain John M. Drake, explored along Bridge Creek in 1861. Near this spot, the troopers found the first fossilized bones and leaf-prints to come from the John Day Valley.
At dawn on 7 December 1941 more than half of the United States Pacific Fleet, approximately 150 vessels and service craft, lay at anchor on alongside piers in Pearl Harbor. All but one of the Pacific fleet’s battleships were in port that morning, most of them moored to quays flanking Ford Island. By 10:00 a.m. tranquil Sunday calm had been shattered. 21 vessels lay sunk or damaged the fighting backbone of the fleet apparently broken. Smoke from burning planes and hangers filled the sky. Oil from sinking ships clogged the harbor. Death was everywhere.
The Japanese raided Pearl Harbor and other military targets on Oahu with carrier-launched aircraft which included fighters, horizontal bombers, torpedo planes, and dive bombers. The planes truck here in two waves, beginning at 7:55 a.m., with a 15 minute lull about 8:30. 
December 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor began routinely. Sailors and marines turned out for church services, morning colors, and chow. They looked forward to off-duty time for recreation, letter-writing, or sleep. It was Sunday in the peacetime Navy.
From this viewpoint along the eastern shore of Pearl Harbor you can see many features associated with the 1941 Japanese attack. The photo was taken in 1991, fifty years after the bombing.