Washington Cascades

Paradise

Washington Cascades

Home to numerous trailheads and the starting point for most summit hikes, Paradise also holds the iconic Paradise Inn (built in 1916) and the massive,…

Ape Cave

Washington Cascades

Ape Cave is a 2-mile-long lava tube formed 2000 years ago by a lava flow that followed a deep watercourse. It's the longest lava tube in the western…

Mt Rainier National Park

Washington Cascades

The USA's fifth-highest peak outside Alaska, majestic Mt Rainier is also one of the country's most beguiling mountains. Part of a 368-sq-mile national…

Windy Ridge Viewpoint

Washington Cascades

Windy Ridge Viewpoint is a highlight of the remote eastside entrance to Mt St Helens. Here visitors get a palpable, if eerie, sense of the destruction…

Boulder Cave

Washington Cascades

Boulder Cave, on the Chinook Scenic Byway, is a rarity in the relatively cave-free terrain of the Pacific Northwest and doubly unique due to its formation…

Longmire Information Center & Museum

Washington Cascades

The tiny, free Longmire Museum describes the history of Longmire, originally the park's headquarters. James Longmire first came here in 1883 and noticed…

Coldwater Lake

Washington Cascades

Coldwater Lake, 43 miles east of Castle Rock, was created in 1980 when water backed up behind a dam caused by debris left behind by the Mt St Helens…

Johnston Ridge Observatory

Washington Cascades

Situated at the end of Hwy 504 and looking directly into the mouth of the Mt St Helens crater, the observatory has exhibits that depict the geologic…