Cowlitz Divide Via Ollalie Creek

When I did the Wonderland Trail in 2015, I always I knew I would go back to the Cowlitz Divide.  I don’t think it gets enough starstruck love but I guess that is okay with me.

Staying at the Ohanapecosh campground, it turned out I could hike up the Silver Falls Loop right from my campsite in Loop E to connect with the Cowlitz Divide Trail but that would have been a 16 mile day and I opted to drive up to Stevens Canyon Road and the trailhead there to save those few extra miles for the Divide views.

I started around 7am with overcast skies but the promise of a partly sunny day.  I saw NO ONE on the Cowlitz Divide Trail all the way to the junction with the Wonderland. The trail was mellow and in fairly good shape with plenty of stream crossings. But I will say the toilet at Ollalie is a good distance from the camp so plan accordingly! Also, the footlog to the camp has been moved and rests down stream as part of a few other logs you can use to cross over to the camp. There were a handful of huckleberries out on the trail and the crossing of Ollalie Creek after the camp was a rock hop.

I turned up on the Wonderland a bit before 9:30am and 4.4 miles in (includes .3 miles walking to/from Ollalie Camp).  The trail begins its climb up on to the ridge of the Divide but not overly steep.

The first views began at 5.3 miles, the clouds slowly burning off from Double Peak, Naches and Aix in the distance. There was a side trail near here, it looked like it wandered off to Bald Rock.  I stopped at a viewpoint to gaze at Shriner Peak and eat a bite at 5.9 miles and heard one trailrunner go by behind me.

Having leveled off, I began my ramble on the undulating meadows and forest of the Divide. The wildflowers were out: lupine, paintbrush and bear grass. Goodness, I love that sweet smell and the hum of the bees.

For a ridge walk, this trail does have quite a few steps and steep bits, you have to earn your views. There was one very small patch of snow, it is probably gone now.  Otherwise, the trail was dry.

I “summited” the last knob before the highpoint of the Divide at 7.2 miles and 5,800 feet and called it a good turn around point on a rock with views of Cowlitz Park and Tahoma. I had only seen two other people at this point hiking clockwise from Indian Bar.

The views were just as stunning as I remembered them and I didn’t have to hike the whole rest of the Wonderland to appreciate them.  🙂  Mt. Adams stood to the south and the Stevens Range rested in between. I could see a few backpackers off on the high point heading for Indian Bar and heard another couple walking south. Otherwise, it was just me and the breeze.

Eventually the clouds parted enough to see Little Tahoma and Whitman Crest and I reluctantly made my way back down just before noon. I passed maybe 8 people, including 3 young women doing some brushing trail work.  The trip back down the Cowlitz Divide Trail to my car was uneventful and I didn’t see anyone until right before the trailhead when 2 folks asked me if there were any big trees up the trail.  All in all, a 14.4 mile day that came in under 8 hours with 3,550 feet of ascent.

I highly recommend this one and think an ideal overnight would be to camp at Ollalie Camp and do a day hike to the Divide either for sunset or early the next morning!