# Washington - The Evergreen State



## STFC (Sep 29, 2009)

I've just spent ten days visiting Washington and it is one of the most stunningly scenic places I've ever been to. The highlights of the trip were a hike in Mount Rainier National Park and a couple of days spent in a cabin on the Quileute Indian reservation at La Push, on the Olympic Peninsula.

Here's a small selection of the hundreds of photos I took:

Rainier


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## STFC (Sep 29, 2009)

La Push


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## mhendo (Sep 30, 2009)

Very nice.

I lived in Vancouver, B.C., for a couple of years, and used to get down to Washington periodically. Mainly Seattle, which is a great town, but also a few trips out into the mountains. It really is a lovely place.

What's really amazing is when you get way out into the east of the state, past the Cascades. It's like another world, much drier and without all the green of the coastal strip.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Sep 30, 2009)

mhendo said:


> Very nice.
> 
> I lived in Vancouver, B.C., for a couple of years, and used to get down to Washington periodically. Mainly Seattle, which is a great town, but also a few trips out into the mountains. It really is a lovely place.
> 
> What's really amazing is when you get way out into the east of the state, past the Cascades. It's like another world, much drier and without all the green of the coastal strip.



It's called the Inland Empire. It's like a desert in the middle of the state, with the coastal rainforest to the west, and the evergreen forests of the Rockies to the east.


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## STFC (Sep 30, 2009)

Thanks mhendo.

It's a beautiful part of the world and I didn't see nearly as much of it as I would have liked. As my girlfriend's sister lives in WA, I'm hoping we'll have the opportunity to go back again and again.


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## bi0boy (Sep 30, 2009)

I went there a couple of years ago. There is quite a contrast between the forests and mountains in the west of the state and the rolling hills to the east where basically whole counties are one big wheat field.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Sep 30, 2009)

To me, central washington state will always be represented by the land around Ellensburg.


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## D (Sep 30, 2009)

STFC said:


> a couple of days spent in a cabin on the Quileute Indian reservation at La Push, on the Olympic Peninsula.



How was that part of your trip? I just read about the Quileute Nation - I didn't know ANY of this particular history.


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## STFC (Sep 30, 2009)

It was brilliant, you should definitely visit La Push if you can. The cabin we stayed in had an amazing view of the rugged coastline and First Beach, which like all the others round there is littered with huge tree trunks that have been washed ashore in violent storms. We sat among them at night, with a log fire burning away, drinking plenty of beer and gazing up at the stars and Milky Way. Unreal.

I read a little bit about the Quileutes, they are an interesting people and I'd like to know more.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Sep 30, 2009)

Did you see any whaling while you were there? There are a couple of indigenous tribes on the Olympic Peninsula who have insisted on their aboriginal right to whale.


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## STFC (Sep 30, 2009)

No I didn't, Johnny.

I was hoping to see a whale or two, but no luck. Didn't see any bald eagles either, which was disappointing. I saw raccoons, deer, chipmunks, marmots and a mountain goat during the trip though.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Sep 30, 2009)

STFC said:


> No I didn't, Johnny.
> 
> I was hoping to see a whale or two, but no luck. Didn't see any bald eagles either, which was disappointing. I saw raccoons, deer, chipmunks, marmots and a mountain goat during the trip though.



Not likely to see whales from those sorts of beaches. Surprising you didn't see any eagles. 

The Pacific coast is fantastic around there, isn't it?


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## STFC (Sep 30, 2009)

It really is. I've never been anywhere like it. Two days there was nowhere near enough.


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