Mountain Identifier
Is that Mount Hood or Mount Adams?
Check the direction first. From Portland, Mount Hood is east, about 78 km away, and looks like a steep, pointed cone. Mount Adams is northeast, about 120 km away, and looks broad and flat-topped, like a snowy mound. Adams is taller, 12,276 ft against Hood's 11,249 ft, but from Portland it looks smaller because it's much farther away.
The quick test
| Mount Hood | Mount Adams | |
|---|---|---|
| State | Oregon | Washington |
| Height (USGS) | 11,249 ft / 3,429 m | 12,276 ft / 3,742 m |
| Shape | Steep, pointed, classic cone | Broad, rounded, flat-topped dome |
| From downtown Portland | East (about 101°), 78 km | Northeast (about 50°), 120 km |
| From Hood River | South-southwest (about 200°), 39 km | Due north (about 2°), 55 km |
Bearings and distances are computed from the summit coordinates in OpenStreetMap, measured from the city center.
Direction does most of the work
From the Portland and Vancouver area, the volcanoes spread across the eastern half of the sky in a predictable order. Face east and you'll see Mount Hood straight ahead. Turn left (north) and you pass Mount Adams in the northeast, then Mount St. Helens in the north-northeast, with Mount Rainier just beyond it on the clearest days. If you know roughly which way you're facing, you can usually name the cone without looking at its shape at all.
The same names turn up far from the Cascades. OpenStreetMap lists 14 summits called Mount Adams and four called Mount Hood around the world, so "Mount Adams" in a photo caption isn't proof of anything. Our guide to identifying any mountain explains why position beats names.
Why Adams looks smaller, even though it isn't
Adams is about 1,000 ft taller than Hood, but from Portland it's 42 km farther away. Distance shrinks how big it looks, and at 120 km the curve of the Earth hides several hundred meters of its lower slopes below the horizon. The result is a low, wide mound behind the foothills, while Hood stands up sharply in front. Our guide to how far you can see a mountain has the numbers. From Hood River, where both are close, Adams looks every bit as big as it is.
Shape: pointed versus broad
Hood is the textbook stratovolcano: a steep cone with a sharp summit, shaped by glaciers into ridges that radiate from the top. Its south side, seen from Timberline Lodge, shows Crater Rock below the summit. Adams is massive rather than steep. It's built from many overlapping eruptions, which gives it a broad, rounded profile with a wide summit plateau and false summits that fool climbers into thinking they're nearly there.
The third peak people mix them up with is Mount St. Helens, which lost its summit in the 1980 eruption. From Portland it's a low, flat-topped shape (the crater opens to the north, away from the city), nothing like Hood's point.
Naming them with an app
Mountain Identifier: Peaks labels the summits in your camera view with name, elevation and distance. Its live view searches 80 km around you, which shapes what it can show from the city:
- From downtown Portland, Mount Hood (78 km) gets a label. Mount Adams (120 km) is outside the live view's range and won't.
- From Hood River and the Gorge, both are well inside the range and both get labels, along with the smaller peaks around them.
- For planning, the 3D panorama draws the terrain out to 120 km from a point you choose, so you can see in advance which cones will be in view from a trailhead.
The live view and the panorama at a point you drop are part of the Pro subscription. For the general question of what's visible from where you are, see what mountains can I see from here.
Frequently asked questions
Which is taller, Mount Hood or Mount Adams?
Mount Adams, at 12,276 ft (3,742 m), is about 1,000 ft taller than Mount Hood at 11,249 ft (3,429 m), according to the USGS. Hood is the highest point in Oregon; Adams is the second-highest in Washington after Mount Rainier.
Can you see Mount Adams from Portland?
Yes, on clear days, to the northeast, to the left of Mount Hood as you face east. It's about 120 km away, so it sits low on the horizon and is easy to miss in haze. Higher ground on the east side of the city helps.
What's the pointed mountain north of Portland?
Probably Mount St. Helens, about 84 km to the north-northeast. Since its 1980 eruption it has a broad, flat-topped, horseshoe shape rather than a point, so if the peak you see is a sharp cone, look again: that's more likely Hood, to the east.
Where can you see both Mount Hood and Mount Adams?
From Hood River and much of the Columbia River Gorge, the two face each other across the river: Hood to the south, Adams to the north. From Hood River, Hood is about 39 km away and Adams about 55 km.
Point your phone at it
Mountain Identifier: Peaks labels the peaks in your camera view with name, elevation and distance, and hides the ones a nearer ridge blocks. Free to download; identification is part of Pro.
Last reviewed 2026-10-09. Peak data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Related guides
What mountains can I see from here?
A map shows every mountain nearby, not the ones you can see. Here's how line of sight works, why near ridges hide far peaks, and the tools that compute it.
Read the guide →What mountain is this?
Four reliable ways to name the mountain in front of you or in a photo: an AR app, a compass and map, the photo's location data, or a local forum.
Read the guide →How far away can you see a mountain?
Curvature, refraction and haze, worked through with real numbers: how much of a mountain hides below the horizon at 50, 100 and 200 km, and the record sightlines.
Read the guide →What mountains can you see from Los Angeles?
Mount Wilson's antennas, snowy Mount Baldy, and San Gorgonio on the clearest days: the LA skyline named peak by peak, with directions and distances.
Read the guide →