SPACEPHOTOS

Snow-capped, volcanic Mount Saint Helens and Mount Adams in Washington; Mount Hood in Oregon; and the beautiful Columbia River Gorge are featured in this west-northwest-looking, low-oblique photograph. The gorge resulted from the Columbia River eroding the rocks of the rising Cascade arch, which continues to rise as the river, now impeded by numerous dams within the gorge, attempts to maintain its course to the Pacific Ocean near Astoria, Oregon (not visible). At the western boundary of the gorge, the Columbia River passes the cities of Portland, Oregon, to the south and Vancouver, Washington, to the north (both barely discernible) before taking a more northerly course toward the cities of Longview and Kelso, Washington. Visible are the forested Cascade Range; field patterns in the Columbia Plateau; and the agriculturally rich lands of the Willamette Valley, south of Portland.