Documenting my Rainier obsession
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North Backbone Ridge Difficulty: strenuous, unmaintained, and overgrown 6.2 miles one way Elevation gain: 2620' Max elevation: 5120' Camps: none First hiked by me: 2024 |
This is an abandoned trail. Only come here if your navigation is up to the task of finding your way where there is no path to follow, and practice Leave No Trace to avoid damaging fragile terrain.
In days gone by, the Taidnapam people used to climb up Backbone Ridge and the Cowlitz Divide to reach what is now Indian Bar from what is now Packwood. The upper portion of this route is now known as the Cowlitz Divide section of the Wonderland Trail. The lower portion of Backbone Ridge, from near Packwood up to Stevens Canyon Road, was maintained as a hiking trail up until 2006, when it was closed due to a bridge washout. I visited there in 2021 and found it still easily passable.
But what about the middle portion of the trail, from the southernmost apex of Stevens Canyon Road up to the Wonderland? Caltopo shows this trail on their historic 1915-1945 map layer, but it's not included on any more recent maps.
So I set out to hike it.
The trail is... sorta still there in places. Old. Overgrown. MUCH fainter than the lower section that's described on this site as Backbone Ridge. I made heavy use of multiple navigational techniques, which frequently contradicted each other:
This site normally lists trail distances as out-and-back, but I am only showing the one way distance for North Backbone Ridge, because when I reached the top where it intersects the Wonderland there's no way I could have hiked back down the same way. I mean I guess in extremis maybe I could, but I REALLY didn't want to! Luckily I had seen this coming and stashed my bike at Box Canyon, so I was able to complete my hike more easily by hiking out down the Wonderland (2.8 miles, 1770' elevation loss) and then cycling back to my car (5 miles, 600' gain, 220' descent).
This site normally also includes photos to help you identify the start of unmaintained trails, but I'm not doing that here because I both started and finished the hike slightly lost, navigating by bearing. Maybe the trail doesn't quite still exist at either end, or maybe I just missed where it does. Either way, anyone who needs pointing to an exact location really shouldn't be hiking here :-)
Navigational notes: start north up the top of the ridge. Trust your navigation when the map says to drop down to your left, then follow a contour NNW. Turn NE and traverse across a slope - you'll want to make sure you're on the actual trail here as this slope is STEEP, and although the trail is narrow and somewhat sketchy, it's much better than trying to offroad this area. Cross a stream, head due E a bit, then NE and climb steeply as forest gives way to open patches with views. Upon reaching the top of the ridge, follow it N and then NW until you intersect the Wonderland. Navigation remains challenging even on top of the ridge as it's mostly treed in and littered with knolls, dips and divots that attempt to confuse.
Costs of this hike:
Reasons to hike here:
This trail won't be for everyone, but exploring it felt good for me today.