USA Guide
The Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest states of Washington and Oregon are well known as the liberal, green pocket in America's upper-left corner, similar in climate, topography, and environmental politics, but quite different in their attitudes toward growth. Washington's sprawling development, bustling military bases, and notorious freeway gridlock contrast dramatically with Oregon's low-scaled design and easygoing lifestyle, thanks in no small measure to its stringent land-use laws and "urban-growth boundaries" around its larger cities.
Cooler and wetter than California to the south, both states are split by the great north– south spine of the Cascade Mountains, where regular rainfall and a moist climate create a verdant landscape, thick with woodlands that on Washington's Olympic Peninsula have become small rainforests. This fertile land is where the region's population is most heavily concentrated, yet much of it remains remarkably pristine – especially in Oregon. Both Seattle and Portland lie roughly fifty miles from the Pacific Ocean along the I-5 freeway. Seattle, the commercial and cultural capital of the Northwest, is a major port known for its high-tech and aerospace industries and signature "grunge" music, and location along the beautiful, island-strewn Puget Sound. Portland offers much historic appeal for its old-time terracotta architecture and ten stately bridges crossing the scenic Willamette River, along with its nationally regarded culture of bicycling.
Beyond the Cascades, the land to the east is far drier, peppered with desert and scrubland, as well as bleak stretches of lava beds and cinder cones. Of the towns, only Spokane in Washington is of any appreciable size, though Oregon's booming resort town of Bend has a Cascade-straddling location that makes it a useful base for exploring mountains, deserts, and especially the beautiful Columbia River Gorge to the north. Of outstanding interest also is the scarred territory between Seattle and Portland around Mount St Helens, which erupted with devastating effect in 1980.
Highlights
1 Pike Place Market, Seattle, WA Seattle's lively urban market holds an array of fine restaurants, seafood and produce vendors, and street entertainers.
2 San Juan Islands, WA Perched at the upper corner of America, these three bucolic islands make for a great summertime trip by ferry.
3 Columbia River Gorge, WA and OR One of the USA's best natural attractions, home to precipitous waterfalls, historic highways, and a huge, U-shaped gorge carved from colossal Ice Age floods.
4 Mount St Helens, WA Still a haunting sight nearly three decades after it blew its top, the most renowned volcano in North America.
5 Forest Park, OR A true urban oasis, set near downtown Portland and featuring the Wildwood Trail, one of the Northwest's best routes for a walk, jog, or simple wandering.
6 Crater Lake, OR Cradled in what's left of a hollowed-out volcano, this sheer blue lake is a stunning destination.
7 Hells Canyon, OR Deeper than the Grand Canyon, this remote gorge boasts excellent white-water rafting on the Snake River.