“I love the Cascades.” Neil observed.
They were by now a hundred kilometers from home, with another six hundred to cross before they would stop for the day. They were leaving the flood plains and slowly moving into the foothills of the Rockies. The great Fraser rive was turning from a meandering river of the plains of British Columbia, to a narrower, faster and fiercer stream of the slopes. The valley that was once cut by glaciers and now landscaped further by a hundred thousand years of work by the river, had extensive farmlands to the west. But as they moved further east and north, habitation stated thinning, and agricultural farm lands of the lower valleys started giving way to farmlands raising livestock and grass. Once they passed through the initial cascade mountains.
The Fraser rive essentially separated the Cascade Mountains from the Coast mountains of British Columbia. But they were moving east. Soon they would leave Trans Canada highway and turn north into the hills towards the Coquihalla mountain.
Mabel had been driving for the past half hour. Neil sat in the passenger seat and munched some snacks, and enjoyed a mug of coffee, while tinkering with his cameras and clicking off shots of the surrounding scenery, generally enjoying himself.

“Tell me about the Cascades, Mr. Dusty” She said, half in jest, while extending her right arm to him, palm upward, for a few potato chips.
Neil passed her some chips and considered her request.
“I am no geologist, but, from what I know, this range of mountains starts from California and moves north all the way to british Columbia, and always just inland of the pacific shore – the Cascade mountain range. The origin of this mountain range is more or less the same tectonic forces that caused the great earth quake of San Francisco a century ago and which causes similar events in British Columbia too, every few centuries.”
“Explain, please”

Neil scratched his head, and took another sip of coffee. The highway was no more arrow straight, and would constantly swerve this way or that, and slope upward or downward. The nature of the hills too were changing. The vegetation were going to get more intense on the western slopes than the eastern. Being so close to the Pacific ocean, and because of the natural westerly winds, these mountains got as much precipitation, perhaps, as the Himalayas got from the Indian ocean. And the high latitude of the place, combined with the altitude, resulted in a lot of the rain actually falling as snow. Some of the snowiest parts of the world belonged to the western slopes and peaks of the Canadian Cascade mountains.
He tried to think of talking about some of it to Mabel, without sounding stupid. Mabel had grown up here, and Neil himself was only a resident for a few years, and he was no geologist.
Mabel slowed down, following the road sign, and negotiated a downhill sloping sharp turn. She was a stickler of proper driving and following speed limits. She was, therefore, perhaps a better driver than Neil, though less adventurous than him. She glanced sideways at him.
“Well” She asked, arching an eyebrow.
“There is a thin and long ocean plate just to the west of the shore line, going from California and up along the western shore of Vancouver island of British Columbia. That plate is moving east relative to North America, and is essentially colliding with the American and Canadian shore line. That tectonic movement is the cause of a lot of seismic activity all along the west coast of USA and Canada.”
Neil said it, and sipped some coffee. The statement appeared disjointed and did not explain what was its link with the Cascade mountains.

Mabel listened, but did not say anything. She concentrated on the next turn on the hills. The sun was bright and the puffs of cloud only created relief to the otherwise a gorgeous blue sky. The conifer trees lining the road side slopes created the dark contrast to the lighter warm hues of the soil. There were very few cars on the road. Most of the people were heading south into USA for the vacations, according to the radio.
Neil was observing the scenery through his viewfinder, and clicking shots time to time. He continued to do so, one eye shut and the other lined up with the view finder of his camera, holding it up with one hand and supporting the heavy lens with the other. He continued to talk, while snapping off a few shots of the road ahead, with the hills and the sky and the clouds, and the beginning of the snow along the western slopes.

“This collision – click – is the result of not only earth quakes, but also a lot of volcanic activity, – click click – and the rise of a series of volcanic mounts. In Canada, these mountain range is called the Cascade mountains.” Click.
He lowered the camera on his lap, and started fidgetign with it again. They were moving at around a hundred kilometers and hour. The road was not super smooth, and the vehicle suspension was firm and not soft. A certain amount of vibration worked its way through the vehicle and through the cushions of the seat only his body and the camera. He was conscious of holding the camera away from his body and let his arms soften the effect of the swaying and the vibration, to get clear shots using high telephoto focal lengths. But, just to be safe, he set the ISO rather hight and subsequent shutter speed to two thousandth of a second, while also keeping the aperture smaller than f11, ensuring an acceptable depth of field. He lifted the camera again, and tried to look through the viewfinder at the surrounding mountain scape.
“So why are the volcanoes not on the beaches or in the shallow seas? Why have them hundreds of kilometers inland from the shore , if the collision is at the edge of the continent with an ocean plate?”
Neil lowered his camera and looked at Mabel. That question was quite sharp. He felt impressed, and also suspicious that she might actually know more of the Cascades than he did, and might be playing with him.
“What ?” Mabel sensed him looking keenly at her.
“Well, that was a rather clever question, and I wondered if you did not already know all the answers, and were merely egging me on for fun.”
“No no… I cannot remember anyone actually speaking about it the way you do. I love to hear it. I don’t know why the mountains are so inland.”
Neil nodded, satisfied. “You are quite clever and a thinking person. Pretty smart.” He observed. “There is a subduction, at the coast line” he said, lifting the camera to his eye again.
“Subduction ?” Mabel asked.
“Subduction” Neil confirmed. Click.
“What is subduction?”
“ONe of the plates is subducting, or sinking under the second plate as they collide. And it is the oceanic plate that is going under the continental plate. As a result, the submerged plate, going at an angle into the earth towards the hot mantle. Hence, by the time it gets too hot and begins to create volcanoes, the tip of the downward slanting plate has already travelled some distance inland, albeit under the Continental crust. And thus, the volcanoes happen inland. That is what I think. Actually, I read up on it and saw a diagram somewhere.”
They emerged from between two hills and the road turned sharply to the right, with a view opening up on the left. The surface of the road was dusted with powdery snow and black ice. A sudden spate of snowfall greeted them as they emerged in the open. Before them to the right, was the Coquihalla Lakes, and its surface was still frozen, but beginning to thaw out.

There was a designated view point at the side ahead of them and a place to park the car off road. Mabel stopped over at the view point and opened the door to step out and stretch her legs. They had agreed that he would do the bulk of the driving from this point, as the road gets more icy.
Neil stepped out too, and carried his long lens camera on to the edge of the viewpoint, looking down at the frozen waters of the lake below. There were animal tracks on the snow, along with tracks of people on skates. The edge of the snow were melting, exposing clear water that reflected the evergreen conifers of the slopes.
The air was chilly. Neil went back to the car and pulled on his wind breaker, returning back to the edge.
Mabel used her video camera to take a clip of the scene and concentrated on the snow covered hillside before them.
“So, can you name some of the famous volcanoes of the Cascade range? Or are they all dead.” She asked.
She had not taken her eye off the view finder of her video camera as she asked the question. Neil suspected that she was perhaps wanting to catch his voice and his comment on the movie. He considered the question and decided on a safe answer.
“There is a famous volcano in California, but its name eludes me right now. There are a few more volcanic mounts in California. Then, on to Oregon, there are three or four volcanic mounts of the same range – Three Sisters and the Hood being two of them. Then, moving further north to Washington state, you have the famous St. Helens, Rainier and Baker. Many of them are active in the US. Many have spewed within the last two hundred years. Some have done so multiple times in that period. St. Helens is a good example. However, the Cascade mountains in Canada are not live Volcano any more” He completed.
“Wow. And any names from Canada ?”
“All of them are from Canada.” Neil took a few shots of the scene and got back in the car. They still had a long way to go today. He started adjusting the seat, the side mirrors and the rearview.
Mabel followed him back into the car, this time taking the passengers seat. “What do you mean, all from Canada? Those mountains are all in the US.”
Neil eased the car back on the highway.
“Yes, but they are all named by a Canadian, and named after mostly British Explorers that worked on Canada. For one thing, these names were, I think, given by none other than George Vancouver, the British Navigator, who charted the Puget Sound area. The city of Vancouver as well as the island next to it is named after him. He also used other british luminaries to name Baker, Reinier, St. Helens, Hood and perhaps more.”
“Wow”.
“Yes. And then there were the Lewis and Clark expedition of the early 1800s through the Columbia river, to be followed by David Thompson and then Simon Fraser. All of them except Lewis and Clark are connected to Canada and British Columbia, methinks. Lewis and Clark, I think, were sponsored by the then president of the US, Thomas Jefferson.”
They drove on for a while, soaking in the country. They were heading almost direct north through mountain passes, the semi frozen Clearwater river running alongside but flowing in the opposite direction of their travel. Merritt and Kamloops lay ahead of them. The interior of the car began to get colder as the temperature of the outside air dropped.
Mabel switched on the climate control and waited till warmer air started filtering into the vehicle.
Neil settled down in his seat and changed the display on his GPS so it would indicate their elevation instead of direction of travel. They were eleven hundred meters above sea, and climbing. Temperature outside was minus three according to the display on his dashboard.
“The area really opened up during the Klondike gold rush years. Canadian Pacific Railway managed to connect the west coast with the rest of Canada through the Coquihalla river pass after facing a lot of difficulty in making a workable rail line through high mountain country. Logging became a very big industry, with huge virgin forest trees being felled and carted to serve the industrializing world. The rest is history. But the Cascade mountains were part of it all the way.”
Mabel put her hand on his leg and reclined back, pulling the peak of her baseball cap down on her eyes, and reclined in her seat.
Neil settled down for a stretch of driving when Mabel might take a shut eye. He kept his lighter camera on his lap, picking it up time to time single handed to squeeze off a shot. There was powder snow dust on the road and patches of black ice. He kept the vehicle on four wheel drive mode and was careful not to take sudden turns.
“Where do you want to stop for lunch?” Mabel asked.

Neil glanced across at her. She was not sleeping, but watching the scene quietly. The steep hills were typical of the cascades. The shaded slopes that were dusted with snow appeared faintly bluish. Small strands of trees gave the hills a hairy look. In the crevasses there would be heavy accumulation of snow, that would be coming down to the base, gradually gaining girth in the lower ranges. The nearby trees broke the image with their dark outline.
“We could stop over at Merritt for a bite, since we shall be going through it.”
Mabel nodded and squeezed his thigh in agreement.
They still had several hundred kilometers to go. But Neil felt happy to be here, moving along the mountain passes, with Mabel at his side on a long Easter weekend holiday.
A body could do a lot worse.