They span the border between the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington and are officially named in the U.S. and Canada[1] as the Cascade Mountains.

They are predominantly non-volcanic, but include the stratovolcanoes Mount Baker, Glacier Peak and Coquihalla Mountain, which are part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc.

The U.S. section of the North Cascades and the adjoining Skagit Range in British Columbia are most notable for their dramatic scenery and challenging mountaineering, both resulting from their steep, rugged topography.

The large amount of precipitation, much of it in the form of snow, and the resulting glaciation, combine with the regional uplift to create a dramatic landscape in the western part of the range.

[6] Geologically, the rocks of the North Cascades extend south beyond Stevens Pass and west into the San Juan Islands.

The significance of the geologic transitions to the Okanagan Highland to the east and the Interior Plateau and Coast Mountains to the north are less agreed upon.

Cold Arctic air can flow south from British Columbia through the Okanogan River valley into the bowl-like basin east of the Cascades.

[13] Many tall waterfalls occur where meltwater from mountain glaciers drop down a headwall, which are common occurrences in the North Cascades.

In British Columbia, the western geologic boundary of the North Cascades is defined as the Fraser River as it follows the Straight Creek Fault, while in the United States the western boundary is defined by the Puget Lowlands in the west, although there are significant westward extensions of rocks similar in origin to those in the North Cascades found in the San Juan Islands.

[24] Traveling west to east through the range, one would intersect a number of distinct ecoregions, first getting higher and colder, then getting warmer, yet drier.

[23] Examples of amphibian species occurring in the North Cascades include the western toad (Bufo boreas) and the rough-skinned newt (Taricha granulosa).

[24] These invasive plants include the diffuse knapweed (Centaurea diffusa) and reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea).

[27] On the United States side of the border, early inhabitants of the North Cascades included the Nooksack, Skagit, and Sauk-Suiattle tribes on the west, and the Okanagan people on the eastern side, with the Nlaka'pamux people of what is now Canada claiming hunting territory in the heart of the range, south across the border into Washington.

The tribes living and using the range on the Canadian side of the border are the Nlaka'pamux, Sto:lo and the Upper and Lower Similkameen subgroups of the Okanagan.

Beckey notes that "Many names were derived from Chinook Jargon, mostly applied by the United States Forest Service from 1910 to 1940...."[28] Fur traders entered the area in the first half of the 19th century, coming from Canada and from Astoria on the Columbia River.

With the partition, the Hudson's Bay Company was forced to seek an alternative to its older Brigade Trail via the Okanogan River and the construction of a new route over the northern spine of the Canadian Cascades from the area of Spuzzum into the valley of the Coldwater River to connect fort Langley on the lower Fraser with its northern posts in New Caledonia.

For example, mines around the boomtown of Monte Cristo, in the southwest portion of the North Cascades, produced "between $1 and $2.7 million in silver and gold".

[31] Discovery of gold by American prospectors on the banks of the Thompson River at its confluence with the Nicoamen River, at the northern tip of the range, helped trigger the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush of 1858–1860 which in turn prompted the declaration of the Colony of British Columbia to affirm British possession of territories north of the 49th Parallel.

Early settlers also arrived in the foothills of the North Cascades in the latter half of the 19th century, and utilized the range in a limited way as a source of timber and grazing land.

[citation needed] The North Cascades are often referred as the "American Alps" by hikers, climbers and mountaineers because of the sea of steep, jagged peaks that span across the range.

This range's rugged approaches and exceptional alpine terrain make it a premiere training ground for mountain climbers.