page_title: Garfield Mountain (Washington)
section_title: Geology
hierarchical_section_title: Garfield Mountain (Washington) / Geology
caption_attribution_description: English: Garfield Mountain aka Mount Garfield seen from Middle Fork Snoqualmie River Road
context_page_description: Garfield Mountain, also known as Mount Garfield, is a multi-peak summit located in King County of Washington state. It's located on the western edge of the Cascade Range and is within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness on land managed by Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Mount Garfield is more notable for its large, steep rise above local terrain than for its absolute elevation. The mountain's name honors James A. Garfield, the 20th President of the United States. Precipitation runoff from the mountain drains into tributaries of the Snoqualmie River.
context_section_description: The Alpine Lakes Wilderness features some of the most rugged topography in the Cascade Range with craggy peaks and ridges, deep glacial valleys, and granite walls spotted with over 700 mountain lakes.  Geological events occurring many years ago created the diverse topography and drastic elevation changes over the Cascade Range leading to the various climate differences.  These climate differences lead to vegetation variety defining the ecoregions in this area.
  The history of the formation of the Cascade Mountains dates back millions of years ago to the late Eocene Epoch. With the North American Plate overriding the Pacific Plate, episodes of volcanic igneous activity persisted.  In addition, small fragments of the oceanic and continental lithosphere called terranes created the North Cascades about 50 million years ago.
  During the Pleistocene period dating back over two million years ago, glaciation advancing and retreating repeatedly scoured the landscape leaving  deposits of rock debris. The last glacial retreat in the Alpine Lakes area began about 14,000 years ago and was north of the Canada–US border by 10,000 years ago. The "U"-shaped cross section of the river valleys are a result of that recent glaciation. Uplift and faulting in combination with glaciation have been the dominant processes which have created the tall peaks and deep valleys of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area.
caption: Garfield Mountain
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