View from the Bluff Overlook

The Bluff Overlook on the Bluff Trail offers spectacular views of the Straight of Juan de Fuca

Ebey's Landing

This stunning landscape on the Salish Sea, with its rich farmland and promising seaport, lured the earliest American pioneers north of the Columbia River to Ebey’s Landing. Today Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve preserves the historical, ag

Fort Vancouver Garden

The garden at the reconstructed Fort Vancouver showcases the many plants that were grown at the historic Fort Vancouver.

Fort Vancouver

Located on the north bank of the Columbia River, in sight of snowy mountain peaks and a vibrant urban landscape, this park has a rich cultural past. From a frontier fur trading post, to a powerful military legacy, the magic of flight, and the origin

Green Monarch Ridge by Lake Pend Oreille ID

Green Monarch Ridge by Lake Pend Oreille ID

Ice Age Floods

At the end of the last Ice Age, 18,000 to 15,000 years ago, an ice dam in northern Idaho created Glacial Lake Missoula stretching 3,000 square miles around Missoula, Montana. The dam burst and released flood waters across Washington, down the Columbi

Large brick wall with glass windows.

Cadillac Hotel

Klondike Gold Rush - Seattle Unit

Seattle flourished during and after the Klondike Gold Rush. Merchants supplied people from around the world passing through this port city on their way to a remarkable adventure in the Yukon Territory of Canada. Today, the park is your gateway to lea

Looking down Lake Roosevelt with clear skies and treed shorelines.

Looking down Lake Roosevelt with clear skies and treed shorelines.

Lake Roosevelt

The ancient geologic landscape of the upper Columbia River cradles Lake Roosevelt in walls of stone carved by massive ice age floods. Come explore the shorelines and learn the stories of American Indians, traders and trappers, settlers and dam builde

Small waterfall with brown rocks and green moss

Giant springs is a site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Site located in Great Falls, Montana

Lewis & Clark

The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail winds nearly 4,900 miles through the homelands of more than 60 Tribal nations. It follows the historic outbound and inbound routes of the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1803-1806 from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvani

A fifty foot square wooden fort surrounded by tall trees in a forest.

The second replica of Fort Clatsop is the main attraction at Lewis and Clark National Historical Park

Lewis and Clark

Explore the timeless rainforests and majestic coastal vistas. Discover the rich heritage of the native people. Unfold the dramatic stories of America's most famous explorers. The park encompasses sites along the Columbia River and the Pacific Coast.

Historic photo of two men standing next to a mangled piece of metal equipment in the desert.

J. Robert Oppenheimer and Gen. Leslie Groves at the Trinity Test Site.

Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project is one of the most transformative events of the 20th century. It ushered in the nuclear age with the development of the world’s first atomic bombs. The building of atomic weapons began in 1942 in three secret communities across

Origami cranes twirl on carousel

Origami cranes twirl on a colorful carousel.

Minidoka

During World War II, over 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were forcibly removed from their homes and incarcerated without due process of law. Although little remains of the barbed-wire fences and tar-papered barracks, the Minidoka concentration c

A purple and pink streaked sky over a mountain peak and forested valley.

The Silver Forest Trail at Sunrise features spectacular views of Mount Rainier and the White River valley.

Mount Rainier

Ascending to 14,410 feet above sea level, Mount Rainier stands as an icon in the Washington landscape. An active volcano, Mount Rainier is the most glaciated peak in the contiguous U.S.A., spawning five major rivers. Subalpine wildflower meadows ring

Colorful painted tipi on green lawn

Every morning in the summer Rangers put a tipi on the front lawn of the visitor center. Visitors are always welcome to help.

Nez Perce

Since time immemorial, the valleys, prairies, mountains, and plateaus of the inland northwest have been home to the nimíipuu (Nez Perce) people. Extremely resilient, they survived the settling of the United States and adapted to a changed world. Nez

boats on the water with mountains and trees surrounding

Stehekin sits at the top of Lake Chelan, welcoming visitors to take a life at a slower pace.

North Cascades

Less than three hours from Seattle, an alpine landscape beckons. Discover communities of life adapted to moisture in the west and recurring fire in the east. Explore jagged peaks crowned by more than 300 glaciers. Listen to cascading waters in forest

A herd of elk crossing a river.

A herd of Roosevelt Elk cross a river in Olympic.

Olympic

With its incredible range of precipitation and elevation, diversity is the hallmark of Olympic National Park. Encompassing nearly a million acres, the park protects a vast wilderness, thousands of years of human history, and several distinctly differ

A wagon swale is cut deep into limestone rock with trees in background.

The Guernsey Ruts in Wyoming feature deeply eroded rock from wagon traffic.

Oregon

Imagine yourself an emigrant headed for Oregon: would promises of lush farmlands and a new beginning lure you to leave home and walk for weeks? More than 2,000 miles of trail ruts and traces can still be seen along the Oregon National Historic Trail

a sun setting behind historic parade grounds

The sun sets on the American Camp parade grounds

San Juan Island

San Juan Island is well known for its splendid vistas, saltwater shores, quiet woodlands, orca whales and one of the last remaining native prairies in the Puget Sound/Northern Straits region. But it was also here in 1859 that the United States and Gr

A tipi sits beneath a tree near a walking trail

Rangers offer tipi demonstrations during the summer

Whitman Mission

One moment can change the fate of many nations. After thousands of years of habitation by the Cayuse Nation, life in the Columbia River Plateau begins to change rapidly with the influx of missionaries, newcomers from the Oregon Trail, and diseases. A

theatre curtain painted with Japanese characters advertising local businesses

Nippon Kan Theatre curtain, painted with logos and ads for local Japanese-American businesses

Wing Luke Museum

More than a museum, the Wing is an experience. A chance to truly understand what it was - and is - to be Asian American in the Pacific Northwest. Take a guided tour of a historic hotel and learn the inside story about what makes the local Chinatown-I