7 Best Natural Wonders To Visit In Washington This Year
Washington’s towering volcanoes and glacier-fed lakes create some of the most breathtaking scenery in the Pacific Northwest. Mount Rainier National Park anchors the landscape with its 14,410-foot volcanic summit, where more than 275 miles of trails wind through alpine meadows and forests. Diablo Lake adds another unforgettable sight in the Cascades, famous for its vivid turquoise water created by glacial sediment and best viewed from the dramatic Diablo Lake Overlook. The destinations below reveal just how wonderful Washington’s natural beauty can be.
Mount Rainier National Park
Mount Rainier National Park is a place of both ice and fire, as a 14,410-foot-tall active volcano that is covered most of the year by glaciers atop its summit. It is the highest place in the Cascade Range, and the Carbon Glacier on the north slope of the mountain is the largest glacier by volume in the contiguous U.S.
There are more than 275 miles of trails around this beautiful mountain, from short day hikes to the vast 93-mile Wonderland Trail passing through rivers, alpine forests, and valleys. Climbers also come to this park to attempt to climb to the summit via one of 20 different climbing routes. Of course, to make the journey up, climbers need glacier-ready ropes and equipment.
With how cold it gets up in this mountain park, the average visitor should come here in the summer when most of the rivers melt.
Diablo Lake
Diablo Lake is a strikingly beautiful reservoir with its turquoise waters. It gets this color because it's fed by fine rock particles known as glacier flour, which are formed by the erosion of mountain rocks from glacial ice.
The lake sits at 1,201 feet above sea level between several other lakes in the Cascade Range. It was formed by the Diablo Dam on the Skagit River, which was built in the 1930s. It stands as a testament to how nature can create some of the most beautiful landscapes, even through human activity. Visitors here can take a 7.6-mile hike around the lake via the Diablo Lake Trail, or view the lake from the Diablo Lake Overlook. Fishing is also a popular activity here, with rainbow, cutthroat trout, and eastern brook trout to catch.
The color of the lake varies throughout the season, but it is most noticeable from July to September during the glacial melting season.
Palouse Falls
This waterfall is a must-visit spot in Southeastern Washington. Located at the Palouse Falls State Park, it falls down for 200 feet with an upper fall, main fall, and lower fall. It pours down into a 377-foot canyon, which was formed by the Missoula flood, an event so cataclysmic that it inspired Native American flood stories for hundreds of years.
The Palouse Falls is one of the last waterfalls remaining from this great flood. Today, you can visit it from multiple viewing platforms, with the highest offering the best views of the falls of the Palouse River Canyon at the Fryxell Overlook.
Artists visit these falls year-round to draw paintings of the falls when they are low, high, or even frozen. If you want to visit when the water is at its high point, then the spring and early summer are the best times for you.
Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Forest
This forest sits on the Columbia River in south-central Washington and is a testament to the role of volcanoes in shaping the landscape of Washington. The Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Forest is made up of more than 50 species of petrified wood, which were formed by trees buried in volcanic ash millions of years ago. This wood remained buried until the Missoula Floods eroded the basalt and unearthed the wood.
The forest has an Interpretive Center with additional information on the natural history of the region, while the Trailside Museum and Trees of Stone Interpretive Trailhead will take you by many of these petrified landmarks. The forest sits next to the Wanapum Recreation Area for camping and fishing.
Mount St. Helens
Mount St. Helens is the most famous volcano in America, due to its intense eruption in May 1980. This eruption left a huge crater in the summit and reduced its elevation from 9,677 feet to around 8,363 feet. It also destroyed 185 miles of highways and 200 homes, killing about 57 people in the process. The volcano is still active to this day, but it's also a majestic place to visit and see the blast zone. To climb the mountain, you'll need to get a permit, which will temporarily allow access to the closure area. For visiting the mountain, early fall is best to avoid the crowds during the summer.
Hoh Rainforest
The Hoh Rainforest is one of the most striking natural features of the larger Olympic National Park. This massive rainforest receives an average of 140 inches of rain per year, which supports a mix of coniferous and deciduous plants, along with mosses and ferns.
Within this rainforest, one can hike to many serene groves, such as a maple tree grove covered with club moss at The Hall of Mosses Trail, or up to the Mineral Creek Falls via the Hoh River Trail. One of the most interesting places in the rainforest is the One Square Inch of Silence, known as one of the quietest places in the U.S., with not even air travel interrupting the serenity here.
The summer is the most popular time to visit the Hoh Rainforest, as the spring rains make the forest come alive. You can also skip the crowds by visiting in the fall.
Hurricane Ridge
Before you leave the Olympic National Park, you'll also want to visit another one of its natural wonders: Hurricane Ridge. It gets its name from the strong winds of more than 75 miles an hour that rip through this area, bringing around 400 inches of snow every year.
Through this mountainous ridge are hiking trails offering gorgeous views of Washington, such as the Cirque Rim with an overlook to Port Angeles and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, or the Hurricane Hill Trail that gazes out onto the mountains.
This section of the park is open year-round, as during the winter, there are many opportunities for cross-country skiing, sledding, and snowshoeing. During the spring, wildflowers pop up all around the meadows of Hurricane Ridge. The summer is the busiest season in this park, meaning you might want to consider coming during the off-seasons of spring or fall.
Winds, ice, and volcanic ash craft Washington's natural beauty
Washington is proof that even destructive forces can create natural beauty. The explosion of Mt. St. Helens created a majestic crater and a lake, while the Missoula Floods gave rise to the petrified wood of the Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Forest and Palouse Falls. It will take bravery to ascend up some of these places, whether that's traveling to Mount St. Helen or braving the winds of Hurricane Ridge, but the view alone will make it worth your while.
