Мазама: Вашингтон штатының таулы ауданы

Unincorporated community in Washington, US

Mazama (/m//ə/'/z//æ//m//ə/ məZAMə)
is an unincorporated community in Okanogan County (population 158) located in the Methow Valley of Washington, on the east slopes of the North Cascades and North Cascades National Park. It is located along the North Cascades Highway (Highway 20), 14 mile (23 km) northwest of Winthrop and about 28 mile (45 km) south of the Canada–United States border. Mazama's town center elevation is 2106 feet (642 m), and it is located 2.7 mile (4 km) south of and 4895 feet (1492 m) below Goat Peak. Founded around the beginning of the twentieth century,
Mazama boomed as the departure point for mining towns in the rugged Harts Pass area, such as Barron, Chancellor, and Robinson. Recently considered little more than a pit stop, Mazama "town" is centered at the intersection of Lost River Road and Country Road 9140. Mazama offers a general store, an adventure supply store, a gas station, a café, and two restaurants. It has been a destination for summer weddings, rock climbing, mountaineering, and winter sports with options for heli skiing, back country and cross country skiing. It is home to one of the world’s longest cross country skiing trails, stretching for 120 mile (193 km) and running through the settlement.

In the 19th century, the town was called "Goat Creek", after a creek at the base of nearby Goat Peak (then called Goat Mountain). According to toponymist William Bright the name "Mazama" originally came from the Nahuatl word mazame, "deer (plural)", from mazatl, "a deer", referring to brocket deer. In the past the word was used locally to refer to mountain goats or bighorn mountain sheep. In 1896 the word was used in the naming of the Portland mountaineering club, The Mazamas.

The Methow River flows immediately to the south of Mazama, where it provides spawning habitat to spring Chinook salmon. Forests of native Douglas fir and Ponderosa pine are widespread in Mazama and its surroundings, with ample Cottonwood along creeks and rivers. Over seventy species of mammals are indigenous to the area. This includes the Northern pocket gopher, but ironically, not the Mazama pocket gopher.

The Mazama area offers cross country skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, rock climbing, and mountaineering. In the 1970s and 1980s, various proposals to build a ski resort on Sandy Butte near Mazama were submitted to the United States Forest Service amid opposition from local residents. It was planned to accommodate up to 8,200 skiers and cost $25 million to construct. The final iteration of the proposal, named Arrowleaf Resort, was withdrawn in 1999 following a ruling by the Washington State Department of Ecology that denied water rights for the project. Mazama is also the location for one of the Outward Bound School's Northwest locations (NWOBS). NWOBS was founded in 1965.