Index

Index, which has fewer than 200 residents, illustrates one of the anomalies of western Washington geography; the village lies only 500 feet above sea level, yet looks like a remote alpine settlement. That's because as you drive deeper into the mountains of western Washington the river valleys become deeply glaciated and crowded by jagged ridges and tall peaks. Rising above Index are 5,979-foot-tall Mt. Index and 6,125-foot-tall Mt. Baring. Besides logging, granite quarrying was once a major local industry. The nearby Cascades Tunnel was built to protect trains from the mountains' devastating avalanches.