Hike of the Week: Willapa Hills

Enjoy a pastoral countryside on the Willapa Hills Trail

Willapa Hills

All aboard for journey across southwest Washington




by Craig Romano
photo by Craig Romano
produced by Michael Fagin

January 12, 2007

Quick Facts
Location: western Lewis County
Land Agency: Washington State Parks
Roundtrip: 14.0 miles
Elevation gain: 100 feet
Access: From Chehalis (exit 77 on I-5) follow SR 6 west for 16 miles to Rainbow Falls State Park. Trail head for Willapa Hills Trail begins near day use parking area. Trail may also be accessed from developed trailhead in the community of Pe Ell.
Notes: Dogs must be leashed

It’s been over a dozen years since the last train barreled over southwestern Washington’s scrappy Willapa Hills. From Chehalis to Raymond, trains used to regularly ply across this region; one of the state’s most productive timber harvesting areas. The forest and the rail line supported a string of bustling communities. But much has changed in the state’s environmental and economic landscapes in the last century. The Willapa Hills still produce a healthy timber harvest, but a large labor force is no longer needed to move it. The trains too are no longer used, replaced instead by a fleet of trucks.
And while the rail line has been abandoned, the bed that once housed it has since been converted into a 56 mile non-motorized multi-use trail. Administered by Washington State Parks, the Willapa Hills Trails makes for some great wanderings into the past-and into a part of the state rarely visited by hikers. Along the trail you can pass by communities fading into history. Trek across trestles. Traverse lands marred by intensive logging and tracts striving to recover. Saunter past wetlands teeming with song birds. Amble alongside lazy rivers draining saturated hillsides. Share the sparsely populated surroundings with deer, coyotes, bear, and elk.
While state parks manages the entire trail, only 7 miles of it has been “improved” for hiking. These seven miles however, from Rainbow Falls State Park to the old Pe Ell depot rank among the most scenic along the entire trail. Perfect for winter strolling, any distance along this old railway will satisfy your urge to get out and get some hiking in. Make sure you schedule some time to enjoy Rainbow Falls while you’re down this way. This year’s heavy rainfall guarantees that the falls will be in fine form.