The Rocky Mountains make up the largest chain of mountains in the country. Its mountains extend through nine states in the West, from Montana to New Mexico. The area is divided into many smaller mountain ranges such as the Zumi, Sacramento and San Juan mountains in the Southwest, the Monitor ranges in Nevada, the Sange de Cristo and Laramie mountains to the east, and the Bitterroot, Absaroka and Bighorn ranges in the north.
The Appalachians run 1,500 miles through the Eastern United States and into Canada, extending through 15 states from Alabama to Maine. The region includes the Eastern United States' tallest point -- Mount Mitchell in North Carolina at 6,684 feet. The range features mountains that are mostly covered in forest, and it includes the Allegheny Mountains in Pennsylvania, the New Hampshire White Mountains, the Vermont Green Mountains, the Catskills in New York, the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains and the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and North Carolina.
The Sierra Nevada range extends through much of eastern California and partly into Nevada. The area runs 400 miles from north to south and is 70 miles wide from east to west. This range includes the highest point in the contiguous United States in Mount Whitney (14,505 feet), along with Yosemite and Sequoia national monuments and Lake Tahoe. Farther to the north, the Coastal mountain ranges run through Oregon and Washington.
The Alaska and Brooks mountain ranges are the largest that form the very northern tip of the Rocky Mountains after they cross through Canada's British Columbia and Yukon Territory and into Alaska. The Alaska Range is in the southeastern portion of the state and runs from the White River to Lake Clark. This range contains Mount McKinley, North America's tallest point. The Brooks Range is in the northern end of the state. The mountains contain the Atigun Pass, which the Dalton Highway and Trans-Alaska Pipeline run through.
