Southwest

Southwest Washington covers Clark, Cowlitz, Lewis, Skamania, and Wahkiakum counties — the corner of the state where the Columbia bends north and the Cascades drop toward the Lower Columbia. The terrain ranges from the Vancouver, Washington side of the Portland metro to the volcanic ridges of Mount St. Helens and the deep Columbia Gorge canyons of Skamania County. Vancouver and Camas hold the Clark County edge of the Portland metro; Longview and Kelso sit on the Lower Columbia in Cowlitz County; Centralia and Chehalis hold the I-5 corridor through Lewis County; Stevenson, Carson, and the Bonneville Lock and Dam cover the Skamania side of the Columbia Gorge; Cathlamet and the Wahkiakum National Wildlife Refuge anchor the lower river. Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument fills the eastern Cowlitz–Skamania corner. Trips here usually pick one of three threads — the Mount St. Helens drive to Johnston Ridge Observatory, the Columbia Gorge scenic loop with Multnomah Falls and Beacon Rock just across the river, or the I-5 corridor as a stop between Portland and Seattle. The Gorge windsurfing season runs spring through fall; St. Helens is best in clear summer.