Blue Mountains (Oregon)

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The Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains are a mountain range located largely in northeastern Oregon and stretching into southeastern Washington in the United States. The range, situated in the Pacific Northwest, has an area of 4,060 square miles (10,520 square kilometers), stretching east and southeast of Pendleton, Oregon to the Snake River along the Oregon-Idaho border.

Geologically, the range is a part of the larger rugged Columbia Plateau, located in the dry area of Oregon east of the Cascade Range. The highest peaks in the range include Strawberry Mountain (9,038 ft/2,739 m) and Mount Ireland (8,321 ft/2,522 m). The nearby Wallowa Mountains, east of the main range near the Snake River, are sometimes included as a subrange of the Blue Mountains.

In the middle 19th century, the Blue Mountains were a formidable obstacle on the Oregon Trail and was often the last mountain range American pioneers had to cross before reaching either southeast Washington near Walla Walla or passing down the Columbia River Gorge to end of the Oregon Trail in the Willamette Valley near Oregon City. The range today is traversed by Interstate 84, which crosses the crest of the range from northwest to southeast between Pendleton and LaGrande. The community of Baker City sits along the southeastern flank of the range. U.S. Route 26 crosses the southern portion of the range, reaching a summit of 5,098 ft (1,545 m) at Blue Mountain Pass.

The Blue Mountains in Washington, seen from the west

Much of the range is included in either the Umatilla National Forest and Malheur National Forest. Several wilderness areas encompass remote parts of the range, including the Umatilla Wilderness, the North Fork John Day Wilderness, Strawberry Mountain Wilderness, Monument Rock Wilderness, all of which are in Oregon. The Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness sits astride the Oregon-Washington border.

The range is drained by several rivers, including the Grande Ronde River, a tributary of the Snake, as well as the forks of the John Day River, a tributary of the Columbia.