Dee Wright Observatory, Oregon

11. Mount Washington Closeup

Although no isotopic ages are available, all of the Mount Washington lavas and the underlying basalt appear to be of normal paleo-magnetic polarity; the age of Mount Washington is probably no more than a few 100,000 years, similar to that of other central High Cascade Strato-volcanoes. The is no evidence of recent reactivation of Mount Washington volcanism, but a series of aligned small basaltic andesite splatter cones erupted on the northeast flank approximately 1,330 years ago (carbon-14). Access to the Mount Washington Wilderness is restricted to foot trails. The west and southwest sides of the mountain are crossed by the Skyline Trail, 5 kilometers from a trailhead at Big Lake, near U.S. 20. The best long-distance viewpoints on main highways are from U.S. 20 near Blue Lake and from Oregon 242 at Windy Point.