Coast Mountains

Coast Mountains, heavily forested mountain range of western British Columbia, and the Alaska panhandle. The highest point is Mount Waddington, which reaches a height of 4,016 m (13,176 ft), in the south of the range. The Coast Mountains continue in the same direction as the Cascade Range, stretching for about 1,200 km (745 mi) from Vancouver in the south to Juneau in the north (although the northern limit is unclear and could be extended to include further ranges), and measuring about 200 km (125 mi) across in the south, to about 50 km (30 mi) in the north. They are marked at points by deep fiords penetrating the coastline as far as 100 km (60 mi). Certain areas of the mountains have extremely heavy rainfall. Logging and mining take place along the Coast Mountains. Vancouver Island is essentially a westward extension of the Coast Mountains that has become separated from the mainland.