The 242-mile Cougar Traverse in Washington State’s Pasayten Wilderness is the longest uninterrupted wilderness route in the lower 48 states. It’s one big loop without any road crossings, no possibilities to resupply, and no easy bailout options. Mike Woodmansee created the route as a “bonus trek” and long challenge, far from anything else, in his 2003 book “Trekking Washington.” The book rates the route as “toughest,” and suggests to do it in 10 days.
Direct link to preview clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-Zn4vEz50o
I will make a solo and unsupported Fastest Known Time (FKT) attempt of this route, starting on Fri, Jul 12, 2019. See below for tracking info. The initial plan was to make an attempt in September 2018, but unfortunately fires closed a large part of the area.
It is unclear whether someone has successfully completed the entire route. A 2009 discussion thread does not mention any successful completions. A report of a partial completion dates back to 2014. For more recent discussions, see here and here (new dedicated FB group).
The route is particularly challenging because:
- many of the trails have long been abandoned and may literally not exist anymore;
- some areas are severely damaged by wildfires;
- route-finding is difficult;
- there is lots of bushwhacking involved;
- there is no possibility to resupply, so you have to carry all your calories;
- it’s grizzly recovery habitat;
- the cougar owns the Pasayten Wilderness;
- the area has the largest population of lynx in the lower 48 states;
- help is far (far) away if something goes wrong.
The pace and calories planning has been difficult with these challenges and all the uncertainty. I’ve also never carried calories for 242 miles, so that in itself is a new challenge. Nothing Jello, Pringles, and a few spreadsheets can’t solve! Ultrapedestrian Ras carried all calories for his epic unsupported 515-mi Washington PCT traverse, so I shouldn’t complain.
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Route
The route shown in the image below follows what Mike described in his “Trekking Washington” book. Warning: this public CalTopo route does not completely match the book’s route: https://caltopo.com/m/314K. Here’s a correct version with Mike’s suggested campsites: https://caltopo.com/m/B0ER.
The 242-mi Cougar Traverse: the longest wilderness route in the lower 48 states, no road crossings, no resupply, no easy bailout. Click to enlarge or see interactive map.
Cougar Traverse elevation profile. Looks pretty flat. The route has only about 50,000ft of elevation gain.
Many of the Cougar Traverse trails have long been abandoned and may literally be non-existent. The Green Trails maps speak a pretty clear language.
Hopkins Lake
Gear
The essentials. Less is more. After all, minimizing my belt weight is crucial.
FAQs
- Q: How much toilet paper will you carry? A: My spreadsheet says 23.2 sheets per day.
- Q: How did you train for this? A: Endless hours of hot yoga to harden my body and playing tetris to sharpen my mind.
- Q: How many extra batteries will you carry to stream Netflix on your tablet? A: 8.
- Q: Will you floss? A: Daily.
- Q: What shoes will you wear? A: La Sportiva Uragano GTX.
- Q: Will you carry bear spray? A:
Nope.I changed my mind at the last minute and decided to carry a small spray.
Tracking
You can track me in the embedded map below or go to: http://bit.ly/CougarTraverse
The planned start is on Fri, Jul 12, 2019, quite possibly in the very early morning hours. The start/finish is at the Canyon Creek Trailhead, near Ross Lake (leftmost blue marker). The other 3 blue markers on the map indicate trailheads, i.e., possible bailout/pickup locations. As Mike suggested in the book, I will do the route clockwise.
The Forest Service website says that the Canyon Creek bridge was destroyed by trees and that fording the river is difficult and dangerous. Well, turns out that one can simply cross the river on the trees that destroyed the bridge or wade through the less-than-knee-deep water. Problem solved.
