Talk:Skagit Range

Question

Heya, I am confused by part of the lead here.

The Skagit Range is a subrange of the Cascade Range in southwestern British Columbia, Canada and northwestern Washington, United States, which are known in Canada as the Canadian Cascades or, officially, the Cascade Mountains.

That last bit, "which are known in Canada..."--I assume that refers to the Cascade Range, but the way it is worded makes it seem possible to be about the Skagit Range. The Skagit Range is not known as the Cascade Mountains, right? Pfly (talk) 05:20, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, the syntax is a bit muddled; best to break it into two sentences of put a parentheses starting at "[the Cascade Range is] known in Canada as the Canadian Cascades or, officially, the Cascade Mountains". Further things to note: FWIR "Skagit Range" is a Canada-only designation and does not occur in BCGNIS, like Hozameen Range; are there American definitions of it? Also the syntax was partly right; normally "Canadian Cascades" is only used when referring to the area along the border - Slesse, the Border Peaks, etc; I don't think I've ever heard it used for the part of the range flanking the Frser Canyon, or even for Manning Park; the term "Canadian Cascades" seems to exist to distinguish which of the peaks south of Chilliwack are in Canada; there's less of a need to do that in Manning Park or, even moreso, between Hope and Lytton.Skookum1 (talk) 12:47, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Huh, okay. Though Manning Park is on the border, isn't it? Perhaps less a need there because access to the mountains just south of Manning is hard--easier from Canada probably. What do you mean by the Skagit Range being a "Canada-only definition"? You mean just that it is not in BCGNIS, or that it isn't a term much used in BC. Of the three border ranges, Skagit, Hozameen, and Okanagan, the only one found in the US GNIS is the Skagit Range. We had a discussion a while back about whether the Okanagan Range was a term used in the US and I didn't know. The Beckey books I've been reading shed some light on the topic. They are--or have been--used in the US and considered extending into the US. But, as Beckey puts it, early agreement on nomenclature has not always been carried forward in general agreement. It's too bad he only touches on the naming history briefly. Hopefully his new book on the history of the North/Canadian Cascades will have more on the topic. If nothing else, it seems clear to me now that among those (few) people who really care about the mountains near the border, such as mountaineers and climbers, subrange terms like Skagit, Hozameen, and Okanagan are used in the US and considered extending into the US. Among the unwashed masses though, who knows! Pfly (talk) 15:39, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

I was using "Canada" in the American context, rather than meaning any official-Canada-gov thing i.e. vs BC-gov. And sorry, I forgot that Skagit Range is in GNIS; it was late and I was "winging it"....the idea with the Manning Park area is that, because there's no viewscape from teh Lower Mainland, there's less of a need to distinguish it from the American Cascades, even though they're right there; "Canadian Cascades" may occasionally get used for the Manning Park area but rarely, IIRC; for the Coquihalla/Lytton Range there's little point in the contrast, you usually just see "Cascade Mountains" (not even "the Cascades"); in the public conception I think most people would be surprised that Lytton Mtn is included, but south of that it's not so surprising, particularly from the Anderson River Group/Llamoid Group southwards....for a small range, it's got quite a bit of history (the Lytton/Coquihalla/Hozameen area I mean) - fur trade, gold rush trails, ranching, mines etc. BTW if you want a nice jaunt some time go check out Tulameen and Coalmont and follow the range road north from Tulameen towards Brookmere; you have the option of getting to Merritt that way, or even bridging under the Coquihalla Highway and making it to Boston Bar via the Anderson River Road; the Anderson River/Llamoid Group area is very striking, from high up anyway; I'll come back with a link to a series of flight photos showing the "horns" that typify that area....Coquihalla Mountain is also pretty intersting looking; a dragons-back something like Nine Peaks on Vancouver Island.Skookum1 (talk) 18:13, 11 August 2009 (UTC)