Originally the Circumnavigation Project included the Volcanic 5 – Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, Mount Baker, Glacier Peak, and Mount St. Helens. The project has since been expanded to include Mount Olympus, in order to represent the Olympic Peninsula.
The primary impetus for a circumnavigation of these major peaks arose from a desire to understand their complex nature. They are not peaks with one or two routes to the summit. They are the Cascade and Olympic behemoths that often have a dozen or more routes to the top. Most visitors go only to their summits and down, seeing only one degree. Going around the mountains shows all 360 degrees.