Washington

Washington is one of the 50 states in the United States of America. It is north of Oregon, west of Idaho, east of the Pacific Ocean, and south of British Columbia. (British Columbia is part of Canada). There are more than 6,000,000 people in Washington. Most live in the western part of Washington, which gets more rain. About a quarter of the people live in the east part, where it gets less rain, and some parts have a desert climate. The largest city on the east part is Spokane, and it is also the second biggest city in the state. The Cascade Mountains go down the middle of the state and break it into two sides. The state's nickname is the "Evergreen State" because it has a lot of pine trees. Washington was the 42nd state to join the United States, on November 11, 1889.
The capital of Washington is Olympia. Olympia is a small city on the west side of Washington, at the south end of Puget Sound. Washington's biggest city is Seattle, Seattle is also on Puget Sound.
Washington has many beautiful forests, rivers, gorges (gorges are small canyons), and mountains. Because it's next to the ocean, it has a long beach. However, because Washington is north of Oregon and California (the other two states on the West Coast of the United States), the ocean is cold, and usually not good to swim in.
The biggest universities in Washington are the University of Washington and Washington State University. The University of Washington is in Seattle. Washington State University is in a small town called Pullman. Pullman is on the east side of the state.




Federal land and reservations


National parks and monuments
There are three National Parks and two National Monuments in Washington:
Mount Rainier National Park
North Cascades National Park
Olympic National Park
Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument
Hanford Reach National Monument
National forests
Nine national forests are located (at least partly) in Washington:
Colville National Forest
Gifford Pinchot National Forest
Idaho Panhandle National Forest
Kaniksu National Forest
Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest
Okanogan National Forest
Olympic National Forest


Alpine Lakes Wilderness
Glacier Peak Wilderness
Goat Rocks Wilderness
Henry M. Jackson Wilderness
Juniper Dunes Wilderness
Lake Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness
Mount Baker Wilderness
Norse Peak Wilderness
Olympic Wilderness
Pasayten Wilderness
Wild Sky Wilderness
National wildlife refuges
23 National Wildlife Refuges are located (at least partly) in Washington like:
Saddle Mountain National Wildlife Refuge
San Juan Islands National Wildlife Refuge
Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge
Willapa National Wildlife Refuge
Other federally protected lands
Other protected lands of note like:
Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area
Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve
Fort Vancouver National Historic Site
Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
Lake Chelan National Recreation Area
Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area
Ross Lake National Recreation Area
San Juan Island National Historical Park
Whitman Mission National Historic Site
17 National Natural Landmarks




Military and related reservations
Fort Lewis
McChord Air Force Base
Fairchild Air Force Base
Naval Base Kitsap
Hanford Site
Yakima Training Center
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (Bremerton)
Naval Air Station Whidbey Island
Naval Station Everett