Willapa Hills Trail from Pe Ell North

9.6 miles of hiking • 0' elevation gain •

We knew this trail is a work in progress but decided to head out to Pe Ell Washington to see if this particular section was hikeable. The parking area for the trail was closed, so we just looked for a street intersection with the trail and parked there. First we headed south, and it wasn't long before we reached a large unimproved bridge over the Chehalis River. We looked at it, and then at each other, and said no way! There was a small 2.5 foot wide wood walkway on the right side of the bridge with a flimsy wire hand rail. The bridge was about 30-40 feet above the raging Chehalis River, and the railroad tracks were not resurfaced, so we could see the river through the wood. The walkway looked slippery and this approx. 100 foot long catwalk just gave us a bad feeling. We decided to wait until this bridge was improved!

We turned around and hiked north through Pe Ell which transitioned to nice farmland. There was a nice overpass for Hwy 6. We reached Helmicks Pond, which was surrounded by homes, and there were two passable orange barriers indicating an eroded portion of the trail (hikeable but not driveable). The nice bridge over Jones Creek gave us a great view of the raging water! We hiked past many driveways to homes along Hwy 6, and they were comfortably back from the trail. We stopped our hike just before the trail took a turn going east. No people were on the trail but Hwy 6 noise is ever present. Still, quite an enjoyable day, but the torrential rain on the drive home was not fun to drive in!