The Cascade Range is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, including the rugged spires of the North Cascades, and the notable volcanoes known as the High Cascades. The small part of the range in British Columbia is called the Canadian Cascades or Cascade Mountains; the latter term is also sometimes used by Washington residents to refer to the Washington section of the Cascades in addition to North Cascades, the more usual American term, as in North Cascades National Park.

The Cascades are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, the ring of volcanoes and associated mountains around the Pacific Ocean. All of the known historic eruptions in the contiguous United States have been from Cascade volcanoes. The two most recent were Lassen Peak in 1914 to 1921 and a major eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980. Minor eruptions of Mount St. Helens have also occurred, most recently in 2006.

At its southern end the range is about 30 to 50 miles wide and 4,500 to 5,000 feet high and 80 miles wide in northern Washington. At its northern apex at Lytton Mountain in Canada, near the confluence of the Fraser and Thompson Rivers, the range is only 10 miles wide. The tallest volcanoes of the Cascades are called the High Cascades and dominate their surroundings, often standing twice the height of the nearby mountains. They often have a visual height of one mile or more. The tallest peaks, such as the 14,411 foot high Mount Rainier, dominate their surroundings for 50 to 100 miles.

Because of the range's proximity to the Pacific Ocean, precipitation is substantial, especially on the western slopes, with annual accumulations of up to 150 inches in some areas; Mount Baker, for instance, recorded the largest single-season snowfall on record in the United States in 1999 (1,140 inches) and heavy snowfall as low as 2,000 feet. It is not uncommon for some places in the Cascades to have over 200 inches of snow accumulation, such as at Lake Helen, one of the snowiest places in the world. Most of the High Cascades are therefore white with snow and ice year-round. The western slopes are densely covered with Douglas-fir, Western Hemlock and Red alder, while the drier eastern slopes are mostly Ponderosa Pine, with Western Larch at higher elevations. Annual rainfall drops to 9 inches on the eastern foothills due to a rainshadow effect.

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