Western United States
Travel Guide > North America > USA > Western United States
In this Article
- Introduction
- Geography
- Regions and States
- Cities
- Sights and Activities
- Events and Festivals
- Weather
- Getting There
- Getting Around
- Eat
- Drink
- Sleep
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Introduction
The American West has given rise to an entire genre of films. Sun-scorched land, horse-riding cowboys and epic gunfights are the standard images conveyed by Hollywood. But when talking about the region now defined as the Western United States, these images don't quite hold true.
Instead, the West is a vast and diverse region, from the snowy peaks of the Rockies, to the warm Pacific coast and beyond the mainland to Hawaii and Alaska.
Geography
Regions and States
Regions
- Mountain States: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming
- Pacific States: Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington
States
Cities
- Los Angeles, California
- San Francisco, California
- San Diego, California
- Seattle, Washington
- Portland, Oregon
- Honolulu, Hawaii
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- Denver, Colorado
- Anchorage, Alaska
Sights and Activities
Deserts
The western part of the USA contains quite a few deserts, ranging from hot deserts like the Mojave desert to colder ones like the Great Basin.
- Mojave Desert:
Named after the Mojave tribe of Native Americans, the Mojave desert stretches across four states in the western part of the United States. The majority is located on Californian grounds, while the remainder can be find just across the borders with Utah, Arizona and Nevada. A typical characteristic feature in the Mojave desert are the Joshua trees and the appearance of these remarkable trees actually forms the official boundaries of the desert. The Tehachapi, San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountain ranges are other indicators within which the Mojave desert lies and they are outlined by the two largest faults in California: the San Andreas and the Garlock. To the south is the Sonoran desert (low desert as opposed to the high desert that Mojave is called). The Mojave desert does see occassional rain and thunder storms, but it's drier than its southern counterpart. Death Valley is located within the Mojave as well, being the lowest and hottest place anywhere in North America. Officially, the highest recorded temperature ever is its honour, being 56,7 degrees Celsius (the record in Libya is doubted!). The desert is easily accessible by good tarmac roads that cross California and into the other three states and is one of the most popular and most beautiful areas anywhere in the country.
- Great Basin:
The Great Basin desert is a large arid region in the western states of the US. The Great Basin itself is actually a little bigger and the Great Basin desert proper is defined by the extent of characteristic plant species. It is roughly located roughly between the Wasatch Mountains and the Sierra Nevada mountains and covers the extreme east and northeastern border areas of California, a southern portion of Oregon, a very small part in Idaho, the western half of Utah and most of the state of Nevada. The Great Basin itself follows approximately the same borders, but extents onto the border with Wyoming and mainly covers a larger area to the south, including parts of the Mojave desert. It basically forms a high plateau in between the above mentioned mountains ranges and and covers a significant amount of watersheds, bounded by larger ones at all sides. Some of these have become dry as a bone, leaving behind places like the Bonneville Salt Flats (where world landspeed records are broken over and over again, it's totally flat!) and the Black Rock Desert. Main urban areas within the Great Basin Desert are Salt Lake City in Utah and both Reno and Carson City in Nevada. The scenery is fantastic and it's a good area to travel along some of the most amazing roads anywhere in the US, including Route 50, the Loneliest Road in America, which runs across of Nevada on its way between the west and eastcoast of the country. Several railroads, including the California Zephyr, run across the area as well, one of the most scenic Amtrak routes in the USA.
- Colorado Plateau:
The Colorado Plateau is a cold winter desert in the central west of the United States. It is a plateau in between several mountains ranges and is bounded by the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, and by the Uinta Mountains and Wasatch Mountains branches of the Rockies in northern and central Utah. It is also bounded by the Rio Grande Rift, Mogollon Rim and the Basin and Range. It covers the west of Colorado, the north of Arizona, west and south of Utah and northwest of New Mexico. About 90% of the area is drained by the Colorado River. The area is one of the most popular to go on a typical American roadtrip and visit dozens of fantastic places with many national parks and monuments to choose from. It has the greatest concentration of national parks in the United States, including Grand Canyon NP, Zion NP, Bryce Canyon NP, Capitol Reef NP, Canyonlands NP, Arches NP, and Petrified Forest NP. Among the national monuments are Dinosaur NM, Hovenweep NM, Wapatki NM, Grand Staircase-Escalante NM, and Colorado NM.
- Grand Canyon one of America's most popular sights.
- Mesa Verde National Park is home to the famous cliff dwellings.
- Yosemite National Park
- Yellowstone National Park
- Death Valley
- Glacier National Park
- Monument Valley
- Zion National Park
- Bryce Canyon
- Denali National Park
- Grand Teton National Park
- Rocky Mountain National Park
- Ski Areas in California
- Ski Areas in Colorado
- Ski Areas around Lake Tahoe
- Carlsbad Caverns National Park
- White Sands National Monument
- Arches National Park
- Joshua Tree National Park
- Olympic National Park
Events and Festivals
Weather
As the Western United States stretches from the subarctic regions of Alaska to one of the hottest deserts in the world, describing the climate in general terms is quite difficult. While temperatures hit over 50 degrees in California and Arizona, at the same time temperatures in northern Alaska might be below zero at night.
Still, summers are between June and September everywhere with generally warm to hot conditions and apart from the most southern states nights are quite pleasant.
Winters last from November to March, though could easily begin earlier and last longer in Alaska, where temperatures can drop to below -50 degrees during some nights. At the same time, in the extreme south along the border with Mexico temperatures are pleasant at around 20 degrees or even a bit more.
Hawaii is warm and humid during most of the year with extremely high rainfall possible, especially in the mountains which are one of the wettest places on earth.
Alaska and the northern states are best visited during the summermonths, while more to the south you might find spring and autumn a better time and Hawaii can be enjoyed almost any month of the year.
Eat
Drink
Sleep
This is version 10. Last edited at 7:40 on Aug 17, 09 by Utrecht (0). 15 articles link to this page.
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