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Karuna56 t1_jazfaoi wrote

I am also amazed and I majored in Geography at University. Here in Washington, we have glaciers, temperate rain forest, fjords, high desert, grasslands, mountain peaks, volcanoes, and much much more. I really believe that Washington has the most geographic diversity of all 50 States.

Plus Sasquatch.

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NINNINMAN t1_jazrmkn wrote

Not to mention’s the grand coulee which feels like it’s own place from the rest of the state

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allybra t1_jazlttj wrote

Ok, question for you then. Where is eastern Wa? ID border to cascades or ID border to Ritzville? For real, not messing with you. It bothers me that people don’t account for central Wa , which looks like Amarillo Tx, and say everything beyond cascades is eastern wa

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brobinson206 t1_jb04v61 wrote

Having grown up here, collectively we call anything east of the cascades “eastern Washington” because the cascades provide such a clear cultural and climatological divide. I see Central WA as a subregion of eastern WA, and I genuinely don’t know anybody who really uses the term central WA (unlike in Oregon where Central Oregon is used frequently). That said, where central WA ends and you just have the rest of eastern WA, I’m not sure. I see Highway 97 being the spine of central WA. Ritzville is a likely dividing line between central and eastern, but I could also see that at Moses lake too.

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lampstore t1_jb1l05r wrote

Yeah, I’ve lived in Western, Central, and Eastern WA. Only people from Central WA refer to it as Central, and even then often use “east of the mountains” since usually we’re talking about traveling back and forth to western WA. Everyone else uses Eastern and Western exclusively.

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impulsiveclick t1_jb1m7cz wrote

Ooo we should dignify central then. SW Washington feels itself different than everywhere and often feel more like we are in a weird relationship with Oregon… but then again I’m in Vancouver so… we’re pretty much just Portland suburbs. But you know even people in Skamania county work in Portland

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freckledtabby t1_jb29a7n wrote

I grew up in King County. I only know three zones, Eastern, Western, and the Olympic Peninsula AKA "the coast".

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Rocketgirl8097 t1_jb21twt wrote

Only time I hear it is Central Washington state fair, which is held in Yakima.

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Hfpros t1_jb3f2b5 wrote

Cle elum or ellensburg is more like the line. Ask anyone there and they'll say they live in Eastern WA. Don't ask my source :z

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TheFairAmerican t1_jb0jrkp wrote

I always consider Eastern WA to be from the Columbia river gorge east. Central is this real narrow band, once you hit the basalt flats you’re there?

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TheGruntingGoat t1_jb1p903 wrote

As someone who lives outside of Vancouver, WA, this confused me for a minute unit I figures out which Columbia river gorge you were talking about. I’m used to thinking if the one that forms the Oregon border.

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pablopolitics t1_jb0s1wh wrote

Funny, like Spokane being all woods I see your point. That said if you drew a line down the cascades which most people mentally do, 80% of the eastern side is like shrubland

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waltc97 t1_jb04bze wrote

Opinion of a geographer: if you make two divisions, the cascade crest should be the division between east and west, but I like the concept of an eastern, central, and west Washington. I can't help but wonder, if you're going to make the divisions though, could that third division be better used to highlight another part of the state with more distinction from the rest than the difference the near east side of the Cascades had from the rest of the eastern state. Eg: east and west and Spokane region is third division? East and West but Seattle metro and the islands get the third division?

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Ecofre-33919 t1_jb1zk25 wrote

This bugs me too. But i’m used to it. I grew up in a part massachusetts near new york state. But in MA - everything outside of the boston suburbs is western ma. So cities like springfied and worchester - really more central mass - were all considered western ma. I live in yakima now and have lived in seattle. I really think i’m in central wa now, not eastern.

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leftwingninja t1_jb2tmbg wrote

I moved from Lubbock, TX to north of Spokane 20 years ago. The first time I drove across the state, I thought I had been transported back to the Texas Panhandle when I got past Ritzville.

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bigmik450 t1_jb0zpyj wrote

I’m from Amarillo and when I try to describe it to people. I tell them take Spokane and drop it an hour west around Ritzville and you have Amarillo.

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OceanPoet87 t1_jb2q70t wrote

I lived 5 and a half years in North SnoCo/Island Co in Western WA and currently live almost as far east as you can get before going into Idaho. I moved here almost three years ago.

In both places: Western WA = West of the Cascade Crest / any of the counties west of the Cascades. Eastern WA = All of the remaining counties east of the Cascades.

A subregion of Western WA could be the Puget Sound Region or another example, SW Washington which aligns more with Portland. See Clark County as an example.

Central WA = Central Washington University in Ellensburg - nice little town. The Central WA area is more like a subset or subregion of Eastern Washington as a whole. If you really want to know what counties would consider themselves central, here is a map: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Washington#/media/File:Central_Washington.svg

For the counties that are light pink in that link... I don't really consider Kicklitat (despite being in the center of the state), Benton / Franklin (Tri Cities), or Adams (the county that looks like a backwards Idaho or Utah) to be Central WA.

The main difference is Eastern Washingtonians call it the "East Side" whereas in Western WA, the East Side refers to the eastern Suburbs of King County.

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modestmouselover t1_jazrzki wrote

I didn’t know the puget sound was a system of fjords! I’ve never wanted to learn about the local geography more than right now

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TheFairAmerican t1_jb0k0ja wrote

Check out its history and you’ll be left going….huh? Consider that Juan De Fuca wasn’t Juan De Fuca at all. And maybe didn’t exist. As a hint, Fuca is the Spanish feminine form of “pond scum”.

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seattleskindoc t1_jb22sgu wrote

Oregon really has amazing geographic diversity as well. There are multiple dry lake playas in SE Oregon and a plethora of hot springs and warm creeks as well. Parts of the state feel far more remote than WA.

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Rocketgirl8097 t1_jb21h5r wrote

Technically though, we have no deserts. We have too much precipitation to be classified as such. What we have is shrub-steppe. And none of it is high elevation. About 1600 ft ASL at most. Southeastern part of Oregon - now that's high desert. 4500 ft ASL at Burns.

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OhCrapImBusted t1_jb2i8c1 wrote

Where I live (Pullman, WA) my house is 2450 ft ASL. There is a definite drop on HWY 26 around Hooper (historical route of the Palouse River), but it goes back up quite a bit after Washtucna. From there to Kittitas its extremely dry, and isn't viable for farming without irrigation.

It may not be "High Desert" by definition, but it is Desert nonetheless.

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Rocketgirl8097 t1_jb2lo4o wrote

It is desert-like. It is not desert. It is shrub-steppe. There are grasses, sage, phlox, and many other plants that grow naturally. You don't have that in a desert. The only deserts in the u.s. are the Mohave, Great Basin, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan.

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OceanPoet87 t1_jb2s7mr wrote

Much of Central WA is semi arid, you're right... no desert. I'm in a shadowed area somewhat, but even going 10-20 miles west, the precipitation drops dramatically as you go towards the basin.

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VanGoFuckYourself t1_jazxxrr wrote

In a comparable size is there anywhere in the world that you can say hands down has more geographic diversity?

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Hopsblues t1_jb13bub wrote

South Africa. Colorado and Cali have wide ranges of diversity.

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mafi23 t1_jb1m1ju wrote

Chile has a crazy amount of diversity but comparing a country to a state isn’t fair. If you throw in the mainland USA it easily beats Chile.

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guevera t1_jb17p1c wrote

Sorry, Sasquatch is a NorCal thing. Centered on Willow Creek, CA. You all need to step off our beast yo :)

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Karuna56 t1_jb1j92j wrote

Ape Caves, near Mt. Adams. Ask the Coast Salish peoples yo ;)

Edit: Salish peoples generally.

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guevera t1_jb2gc23 wrote

Why would the coast Salish peoples have anything to say about mt Adams, in the Yakama Nation?

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Karuna56 t1_jb3lxam wrote

Sorry, I meant the Salish peoples in general.

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LiqdPT t1_jb1fzjy wrote

Natives all up and down the west coast have legends of Saquatch like creatures long before the 1958 discovery of prints in Humboldt.

As for Sasquatch being a NorCal thing, the Sonics had Saquatch as a mascot... 😉

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impulsiveclick t1_jb1n823 wrote

We made a law to protect Sasquatch. it’s a felony to kill or harm Sasquatch

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LiqdPT t1_jb1z9tt wrote

Who is "we" in this context?

Edit: I just realized what sub I'm in, so I assume you mean Washington.

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impulsiveclick t1_jb3v0vk wrote

Yeah specifically Skamania County. SW Washington pride right there. It declared all undiscovered animals endangered species. uwu

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