Old Wagon Trail to Bridge Creek
in Washington · centroid 87 mi from Seattle
The Old Wagon Trail, part of the Pacific Crest Trail, connects the lower and upper Stehekin Valley. It makes a pleasant outing through varied forest for day hikers or riders, and provides trail access to the upper Stehekin Valley for backpackers, riders, and hundreds of Pacific Crest Trail thru-hikers. The trail rolls up and down through a wide variety of forest types, including old growth western red cedars and impact from the Shady Fire of 2005.
Good patches of huckleberries in mid-to-late summer. From High Bridge, start the PCT north and continue past Howard Lake until the junction with the Old Wagon Trail, which leads right (north) to Bridge Creek. Return by the same trail or continue on the Old Wagon Trail until it ends at the Stehekin Valley Road.
Turn left (south) and walk the lightly-used road two miles past Tumwater and High Bridge camps to return to High Bridge. Since the historic floods of 2003, which removed the Stehekin Valley Road in large sections between Car Wash Falls, this trail is the only maintained route to Bridge Creek from Stehekin. The trail generally follows the route of a haul road that was constructed in the 1890s.
- States
- Washington
- Trail type
- National Park trail
- Centroid nearest city
- Seattle, WA · 87 mi · ~2.5 hr drive
- Centroid coords
- 48.3803°, -120.8377°
About North Cascades National Park
This trail is inside North Cascades National Park, a national park managed by the U.S. National Park Service. Conditions, road status, trail closures, and reservation requirements are published on the park's NPS page — check it before driving in, especially in winter or during major weather events.
Official NPS trail page: https://www.nps.gov/places/old-wagon-trail-to-bridge-creek.htm
Park homepage: https://www.nps.gov/noca/index.htm
Plan your hike
Maps + permits: long-distance trails like this often require permits for through-hiking, backcountry camping, or specific sections (especially in National Parks). Check with the maintaining organisation listed above and the relevant land manager before booking travel.
Water + supplies: water sources vary seasonally on most U.S. trails. Carry a filter and consult current trail-condition reports — through-hiker journals (PCT-L, AT Reddit, etc.) and the maintaining organisation publish regular updates.
When to go: hiking seasons vary widely with elevation, latitude, and snowpack. Through-hikers traditionally start the AT in March-April (Springer northbound) and the PCT in late April (Campo northbound). High-elevation western trails (CDT, JMT, Wonderland) generally aren't passable until July.
If you've hiked Old Wagon Trail to Bridge Creek and have current notes (water sources, trail closures, permit changes), tell us at /contact — we update pages as we learn.
Stay nearby
Other trails within 50 miles
Howard Lake Trail
0 miles from this trail's centroid
Agnes Gorge Trail
0 miles from this trail's centroid
Stehekin River Trail
6 miles from this trail's centroid
Thunder-Park-Bridge Cross-Park Trek
6 miles from this trail's centroid
McKellar Cabin Trail
10 miles from this trail's centroid
Imus Creek Trail
10 miles from this trail's centroid
Sources
Trail data on this page is compiled from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), the maintaining organisation's public-facing materials, and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA where excerpts are quoted). Distance, terminus, and descriptive text for nationally-designated trails are hand-curated from federal land-manager websites and trail-association sources. We do not modify the underlying data; this page presents what is already publicly recorded. To suggest corrections, see our methodology page.