“Sentinel”

Location: Mt. Jefferson from Timberline Lodge, Oregon (2021)

Sunrise in mid-May strikes the northeastern flank of Mt. Jefferson and distant Broken Top.

Stratovolcanoes dot the Cascades from Mt. Shasta in Northern California to Mt. Baker near the border of Canada. They are spaced in intervals that when observed from satellite imagery appear like a row of white dots.

Around the time this photograph was created I was studying east Asian history. The Great Wall of China came up and during a Google image search I saw a well-composed photograph that showed the wall and its guard towers wrapping along the hills.

The Cascade Range is sort of like the Great Wall of China. It proved to be a formidable barrier to anyone who took the Oregon Trail. And like the guard towers that line the Great Wall, the stratovolcanoes provide lofty elevated positions for long distance viewing.