thumb|right|upright|Dragontail Peak from a meadow on Cashmere Mountain
The Wenatchee Mountains are a range of mountains in central Washington State in the United States of America. A major subrange of the Cascade Range, extending east from the Cascade crest, the Wenatchee Mountains separate the drainage basins of the Yakima and the Wenatchee rivers. The crest of the range forms part of the boundary between Chelan and Kittitas counties.
Extent
Fred Beckey describes the Wenatchee Mountains as the area between the Wenatchee and Yakima rivers and Stevens Pass. Among the range's significant features he describes are Mount Stuart, the second highest non-volcanic peak in Washington and one of the largest single granitic mountains in the United States, the Cashmere Crags, the Lost World Plateau, Edward Plateau, and Dragontail Plateau, the Enchantment Lakes Basin ("one of the most marvelous examples of an ice-sculpted wilderness in the Cascade Range″), Icicle Creek and its narrow, U-shaped valley over deep, one of the deepest in the Cascades, and the Wenatchee River's unusual winding Tumwater Canyon gorge. Subranges of the Wenatchee Mountains and their highest peaks as defined by Peakbagger.com are the Chiwaukum Mountains (Big Chiwaukum Mountain, ), North Wenatchee Mountains (Cashmere Mountain, ), Stuart Range (Mount Stuart, ), the Teanaway Area (Ingalls Peak, ), and the Mission-Naneum Ridges (Mission Peak, ).
Major peaks
thumb|right|Mount Stuart from the south
Partial list of peaks:
- Mount Stuart - -
- Dragontail Peak - -
- Colchuck Peak - -
- Cannon Mountain - -
- Sherpa Peak - -
- Enchantment Peak - -
- Witches Tower - -
- Cashmere Mountain - -
- Argonaut Peak - -
- Little Annapurna - -
- McClellan Peak - -
- Eightmile Mountain - -
- The Cradle - -
- Hawkins Mountain - -
- Granite Mountain - -
- Earl Peak - -
- Mac Peak - -
- Three Brothers - -
- Thunder Mountain Lakes Peak -
- Trico Mountain - -
- Thunder Mountain - -
- Slippery Slab Tower - -
Natural history
right|thumb|[[Lewisiopsis|Lewisiopsis tweedyi on Tronsen Ridge, Wenatchee Mountains]]
The Wenatchee Mountains are in the rain shadow of the main Cascade Range and hence are drier and have fewer trees. This comparative lack of trees offers good wildflower displays and wide views. Serpentine soils are found within the Wenatchee Mountains, modifying the plant communities in those areas.
The Wenatchee Mountains are home to a number of rare, endemic, or disjunct plant species, including Androsace nivalis var. dentata, Claytonia megarhiza var. nivalis, Delphinium viridescens, Lewisiopsis tweedyi, Trifolium thompsonii, and Valeriana columbiana.