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[[File:Santa monica mountains canyon.jpg|right|thumbnail|Malibu Canyon, Santa Monica Mountains]]
'''The''' '''Pacific Coast Ranges''' (officially gazetted as the '''Pacific Mountain System'''<ref>[http://water.usgs.gov/GIS/metadata/usgswrd/XML/physio.xml ''Physiographic regions of the United States'', USGS]</ref> in the [[United States]] but referred to as the Pacific Coast Ranges),<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=V2d12iZkgOwC&pg=PA361 Merriam-Webster's collegiate encyclopedia]'', page 361 (Merriam-Webster, 2000).</ref> are the series of [[mountain range]]s that stretch along the West Coast of [[North America]] from [[Alaska]] south to Northern and Central [[Mexico]]. Although they are commonly thought to be the westernmost mountain range of the continental United States and Canada, the geologically distinct Insular Mountains of Vancouver Island lie further west.
The Pacific Coast Ranges are part of the [[North American Cordillera]] (sometimes known as the Western Cordillera, or in [[Canada]], as the Pacific Cordillera and/or the Canadian Cordillera), which includes the [[Rocky Mountains]], [[Columbia Mountains]], [[Interior Mountains]], the [[Interior Plateau]], [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada Mountains]], the [[:Category:Mountain ranges of the Great Basin|Great Basin mountain ranges]], and other ranges and various plateaus and basins.
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