Palouse to Cascades Trail | July 2021



Destination

  • Cascades to Palouse Trail accessed via McClellan Butte trail's lower trailhead
  • Alice Creek campsite, trailside

Difficulty Rating

  • Easy
  • Non-technical trail
  • State park-provided campsite, outhouse, tent pad, picnic tables. About 4 sites available, some more private than others.
  • Distance from McClellan Butte trailhead to Alice Creek campsite is about .7 miles.

Noteworthy

  • Good water source of Alice Creek with a social trail to the creek, about .25 miles from the campsite.
  • $12/night to camp at the state park campsites - registration form at kiosk near the campsites. I paid by check, which took the parks service a few weeks to cash.
  • Northwest Forest Pass or equivalent required to park at McClellan Butte trailhead.
  • From the McClellan Butte trailhead, after you cross the powerline cut and are back in the woods, you'll reach a junction. Go straight to immediately access the Palouse to Cascades trail and reach the Alice Creek camping area more directly. Turning right takes you parallel to the Palouse to Cascades trail before eventually joining it.

Future Explorations...

  • This was easy and fun. Next time I might start from a different trailhead to run farther, or camp at the Carter Creek campsite if starting from McClellan Butte trailhead again.
  • Alternately I would start at Hyak and run east about 5 miles to the Cold Creek campground between Hyak and Lake Kecheelus. (Discover Pass required at Hyak).

Resources

Media


Prepping my stuff at the McClellan Butte trailhead parking lot.






It's a luxury to have a picnic table to cook on!

Black Diamond tent set up on the provided tent pad. There were some more secluded sites uphill behind bushes but I suspected there might be more bugs there.



Alice Creek


On the trail


The campsite I selected at Alice Creek



Scenes along the trail




The outhouse!


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