Central Washington

Central Washington is the state's sun-soaked interior — the place where the wet, forested west side of the Cascades gives way to golden hills, basalt canyons, and a semi-arid climate that produces some of the finest wine grapes and hops in the country. Most visitors to Washington never make it here, which is their loss. This is where the state's agricultural identity lives, and where the landscape opens up into a kind of big-sky beauty that feels more like eastern Oregon or Montana than the Pacific Northwest of popular imagination.

The Yakima Valley is the anchor — a 60-mile stretch of irrigated farmland that produces 75% of the nation's hops (virtually every American craft beer you've ever had contains Yakima Valley hops) and a growing portfolio of wine grapes that are putting Washington on the world wine map. The valley's climate — hot, dry summers with cool nights and volcanic soils — creates conditions remarkably similar to the great wine regions of France and Spain. Over 120 wineries operate in the Yakima Valley AVA, with Rattlesnake Hills and Red Mountain producing some of the most acclaimed reds in the state.

Yakima itself is a working agricultural city — not a tourist town, and it doesn't pretend to be. The city's value to visitors lies in its position as a gateway to the wine country and the Yakima River Canyon, one of the most scenic river corridors in Washington. The canyon road (Highway 821) winds 30 miles between Ellensburg and Yakima through basalt walls rising 2,000 feet above the river. It's a fly-fishing mecca, a scenic drive, and a wildlife corridor where bighorn sheep scramble on the canyon walls.

Ellensburg, at the northern end of the canyon, is a college town (Central Washington University) with a surprisingly lively downtown of brick buildings, breweries, and the annual Ellensburg Rodeo — one of the top professional rodeos in the country, running since 1923. The town sits at the crossroads of I-90 and I-82, making it a natural stopover between Seattle and eastern Washington. The surrounding Kittitas Valley is a patchwork of hay fields and cattle ranches that could pass for Wyoming.

Beyond the valley floors, Central Washington includes the Manastash and Umtanum Ridges — rolling sagebrush hills that offer uncrowded hiking, mountain biking, and wildflower displays in spring. The shrub-steppe ecosystem here is uniquely Washington — not forest, not desert, but something in between, home to coyotes, raptors, and some of the darkest night skies in the state.