Episode
117 - From the Rockies to Alaska: Why the West Is So Different
- Published
- Jun 11, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2331
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- https://buzzblossomandsqueak.com/episode/bbs117
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Summary
If the Appalachians are ancient, rounded, and quiet — worn down by hundreds of millions of years — then what are the Rockies? The answer is: still under construction. This episode picks up where the eastern geography series left off, and heads west into some of the most dramatic, geologically active, and ecologically distinct landscapes on the continent. Young Mountains and the Rain Shadow That Made the West The Rocky Mountains are young by geological standards — sharp, dramatic, still rising. Unlike the Appalachians, they haven’t been worn down yet. The Cascades and Sierra Nevadas do something remarkable to the weather: they intercept the moist Pacific air as it moves inland, force it upward, cool it, and squeeze out enormous amounts of rain on the western slopes. By the time the air crosses the mountain crest and descends on the eastern side, the moisture is gone. The land on the far side sits in what’s called a rain shadow — which is why the western slope of the Cascades is one of the wettest places in North America while Oregon’s east side and the Great Basin are semi-arid desert. Same latitude, completely different worlds. The Great Basin: Where Rivers Go to Disappear Between the Rockies and the Sierra Nevadas lies one of the continent’s most unusual landscapes: the Great Basin. Rivers here have no outlet to the ocean. They flow inward toward salt lakes and desert playas and simply evaporate. The Great Salt Lake is the largest remnant of an ancient inland sea called Lake Bonneville, which once covered much of the region. The ecology is highly specialized — sagebrush, juniper, pronghorn antelope (the fastest land animal in North America) — and it all exists because the mountains blocked the rain entirely. The Pacific Coast: Cold, Productive, and Geologically Volati…