Despite the common notion that Washington state is filled with cool mists and covered in ferns and towering firs, the fact of the matter is that a majority of the state is desert. The Cascade Mountain range casts a rain shadow effect over the eastern two thirds of the state. This arid eastern landscape is home to the Juniper Dunes Wilderness area; 7,140 acres of massive windswept sand dunes and of few stands of western juniper trees.