Rough Guides - The Pacific Northwest

The eco-friendly, liberal and ruggedly independent Pacific Northwest states of Washington and Oregon are well known as the wet green pocket in Americas upper-left corner, similar in climate, topography and environmental politics, and with a passion for farm-to-table produce, organic wineries and local microbreweries. Oregon is especially progressive, with no sales tax, an easy-going lifestyle, and urban-growth boundaries around its larger cities. Yet thats not that whole story. Both states are split by the great northsouth spine of the Cascade Mountains; on the west side lies the Pacific Northwest of popular imagination, forming a cultural bloc with hippie northern California to the south, but to the east, the conservative farmers of the arid, ranching badlands of both states have more in common with Idaho and Montana than their liberal cousins on the coast.

The region only contains two big cities, Seattle and Portland , but visiting the Pacific Northwest is really about the great outdoors; you can hike, bike, kayak and climb in some of the nations most mesmerizing national parks. From the isolated rainforests and hot springs of Olympic and the stately peaks of North Cascades to the vast massif of Mount Rainier and the still lava-scraped landscapes of Mount St Helens , Washington seems especially blessed with jaw-dropping vistas, at least when its not raining. And while few states are so set up for mountain biking as Oregon, just rounding the rim of Crater Lake and peering down on that perfectly blue cone is a truly magical experience.

While the Vancouver, Seattle and Portland corridor is well covered by public transport, youll need a car to explore the parks, mountains and more isolated eastern parts of the region.

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PIKE PLACE MARKET, SEATTLE

Venerable seafood diners, flying salmon, fresh fish and produce vendors, street entertainers, gum alley and Rachel, the brass pig.

These bucolic islands make for a great summertime trip by ferry, with charming towns, culinary treats and the chance to see killer whales.

Series of highways that snake back and forth across the mighty Cascade Mountains, passing pristine alpine lakes and snow-capped peaks.

The most infamous volcano in North America remains a haunting sight more than three decades after it blew its top.

Sample the food carts, coffeeshops, microbreweries and eclectic culture of one of Americas most bike-friendly and plain kookiest cities.

U-shaped valley carved from colossal Ice Age floods, home to precipitous waterfalls and historic highways.

Cradled in whats left of a hollowed-out volcano, this sheer-blue lake is a staggeringly beautiful sight.

For details on getting to the Pacific Northwest and travelling across the rest of the USA, as well as information on entry requirements and currency, plus travelling with children, national holidays and sport, turn to the section.

Smothered with dense forests of fir, cedar and cypress, WASHINGTON really is the Evergreen State , rich in natural beauty, national parks and inconveniently heavy rain that sweeps in from the Pacific, at least west of the Cascades. Likeable and vibrant, Seattle contains some of the states most popular attractions, though its greatest asset may be its proximity to glorious Puget Sound , the deep-water inlet around which much of the population of Washington lives. To the west is the Olympic Peninsula , whose mountains are home to elk and lush vegetation that merges into rainforest, and whose rustic beaches have remained pristine and protected. A few hours south lies the awe-inspiring peak of Mount Rainier and the eye-opening volcanic scenery of Mount St Helens .

Dry and desolate, the sprawling prairie-plateau that makes up most of eastern Washington is a great, bleak expanse enlivened by the pleasant city of Spokane and the colossal Grand Coulee Dam . Otherwise youre only likely to come out here if youre travelling the Cascade Loop, a spectacular four-hundred-mile round-trip drive through the snow-capped Cascade Mountains .