Green River, WA

The Green River is a 65-mile (105 km) long river in the state of Washington in the United States, arising on the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains south of I-90.

The upper Green River valley forms the western approach to Stampede Pass, and was once home to many small railroad and logging towns such as Weston, Lester, Green River Hot Springs, Nagrom, Maywood, Humphreys, Eagle Gorge, Lemolo, and Kanaskat. Shortly before World War One, the City of Tacoma, Washington, filed for water rights on the Green River. Today, much of the upper valley has become a gated water supply watershed for Tacoma and access is heavily restricted.

Most of the river above and including Howard A. Hanson Reservoir are part of the Green River Watershed, which is closed to public access. West of the Green River Watershed at Kanaskat, the river passes through the Green River Gorge with cliffs rising sharply as much as 300 feet (91 m) from the riverbed. Flaming Geyser State Park, Nolte State Park, and Kanaskat-Palmer State Park are located in this area.

Downstream from the Green River Gorge is the half-mile wide Green River Valley, where farmland has been protected from development. An attempt to locate a bike trail along the valley walls has encountered fierce resistance from farmers. As a result, bikes must share the road with autos as it winds through the pastoral landscape.

At Auburn, the Green River emerges from the Green River Valley and enters the much larger Auburn/Kent Valley, which was created by glacial action during the Pleistocene ice ages, then filled in by river sediments and lahars from Mount Rainier. After flowing generally west from its source, at Auburn the river turns north, entering a zone of light-industrial and retail development. A public multiuse trail runs along the river through most of this valley.