Almost never is the wording in government legislation poetic.
But that’s not the case of the federal Wilderness Act of 1964.
Written by Howard Zahniser of The Wilderness Society, the act created the legal definition of wilderness and protected 9.1 million acres including Mount Adams and the Goat Rocks in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
This is the poetic, and succinct, line from the act: “A wilderness, in contrast to those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”
I bring this topic up because Sept. 3 was the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Wilderness Act into law.
July 3 marked the 30th anniversary of the Washington State Wilderness Act of 1984, which created Trapper Creek, Indian Heaven, William O. Douglas, Glacier View and Tatoosh wildernesses in the Gifford Pinchot, plus added acreage to Mount Adams and Goat Rocks.
The anniversary got me thinking about the half century I’ve spent hiking, fishing and loafing in these spots.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s — when the Forest Service was selling 400 million board feet a year of timber in the Gifford Pinchot — Mount Adams, Goat Rocks and the five future wilderness areas offered about the only decent hiking area. They were places away from the sound of chainsaws and logging trucks.
A lot has changed, most notably timber harvest in the Gifford Pinchot is pittance of what it once was. Dark Divide, and especially Silver Star Mountain, offer almost wilderness-quality outings.
Four of the GPNF wilderness — Indian Heaven, Trapper Creek, Mount Adams and Goat Rocks — hold special memories for me.
Indian Heaven
Indian Heaven was my first wilderness.
My first hike was the loop out of Cultus Creek campground up Indian Heaven trail No. 33 to the Pacific Crest Trail then back on Cultus trail No. 108. I must have read the trail description in Mel Hansen’s “Indian Heaven Backcountry” book 20 times in anticipation of the hike.
Indian Heaven is a friendly wilderness. It’s relatively close to Clark County. And after a moderate climb into its interior, Indian Heaven is a lovely plateau offering miles of trails with little elevation change.
I’ve hiked almost every trail mile in Indian Heaven, including several of the routes no longer on the Forest Service maps.
Trapper Creek
Trapper Creek Wilderness is the first place I ever got lost in the woods.
I’ve done the three long likes in Trapper Creek, down Trapper Creek trail No. 192, Observation No. 132 and Soda Peaks No. 133.
But it was in late September many years ago I decided to explore one of the “way” trails, rough routes constructed by the Mazamas.
The path was rough, then intermittent, then gone. I could no longer determine where it was on the ground, so I decided to turn around — and could not for certain pick out where I’d just come.
About then, it started getting foggy. It was late afternoon. I understand now the panicky feeling of being lost.
So I sat, and did nothing until my heart stopped racing.
Knowing that I was not too lost, I stuck my walking stick in the ground and placed my cap (a pink promotional cap from The Columbian) on top of the stick.
Keeping my daypack with me, I walked in ever-widening circles, always keeping the pink cap in sight. About the third circle, I came across what I thought was the trail. I stabbed a stick in ground, then placed my T-shirt at that location.
I walked back down the trail a short distance until I was certain it was the way I had come. Then I retrieved my walking stick, pink cap and shirt and hiked out.
Mount Adams
This is my favorite Gifford Pinchot wilderness. It’s close enough to get up early, drive to a trailhead and get a long day hike completed before dark.
I can’t decide which is my favorite spot: It’s either Foggy Flat on Highline trail No. 114 or Killen Creek Basin where the creek meanders through a meadow and over a falls along the Pacific Crest Trail.
I’ve hiked all the major trails on Mount Adams other than going to Avalanche Valley on the Yakama Indian Reservation. However, there are a couple of abandoned routes still on my bucket list on the wonderful, benchy west side of the wilderness.
Goat Rocks
My first multiple-night backpacking trip was in the Goat Rocks.
Former brother-in-law Jim Wilson of Washougal and I took the White Pass Ski Area chairlift up the Pacific Crest Trail, then hiked it south, coming out at Walupt Lake.
To spend time in Snowgrass Flat at the peak of the wildflower bloom on a good flower year is to truly experience scenic splendor. The basin with Goat Lake at its head is another incredible venue.
One trip, after hiking Lily Basin trail No. 86 to Heart Lake, my back seized up while on my hands and knees to set up my tent.
I couldn’t straighten up.
Former Columbian reporter and editor Dave Kern was on that trip. He suggested I take ibuprofen tablets and wait.
So I crawled to my backpack and got out two tablets.
“Take four,” Kern instructed.
Bucket list
I’ve still got three Gifford Pinchot wilderness outings to go.
I want to hike Tatoosh trail No. 161 through Tatoosh Wilderness and take a look at the routes in the Cowlitz Pass area of William O. Douglas, plus make a visit to Lake Christine in Glacier View.
If only they just were a bit closer to Clark County.
