State Route 123 (SR 123) is a

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

in the

Gifford Pinchot National Forest Gifford Pinchot National Forest is a National Forest located in southern Washington, managed by the United States Forest Service. With an area of 1.32 million acres (5300 km2), it extends 116 km along the western slopes of Cascade Ran ...

and

Mount Rainier National Park Mount Rainier National Park is an American national park located in southeast Pierce County and northeast Lewis County in Washington state. The park was established on March 2, 1899, as the fourth national park in the United States, preservi ...

east of

Mount Rainier Mount Rainier (), indigenously known as Tahoma, Tacoma, Tacobet, or təqʷubəʔ, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, located in Mount Rainier National Park about south-southeast of Seattle. With a s ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

. Located in the

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Lewis Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * "Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohead ...

and

Pierce Pierce may refer to: Places Canada * Pierce Range, a mountain range on Vancouver Island, British Columbia United States * Pierce, Colorado * Pierce, Idaho * Pierce, Illinois * Pierce, Kentucky * Pierce, Nebraska * Pierce, Texas * Pierce, We ...

, the long roadway extends through a heavily forested canyon from (US 12) to . First established as a branch of in 1923, the designation of SR 123 has changed from a branch of (PSH 5) in 1937 to SR 143 during the 1964 highway renumbering and SR 123 in 1967. The northern terminus of the highway,

Cayuse Pass Cayuse Pass (el. ) is a mountain pass in the Cascade Mountains in the state of Washington. The pass is about southeast of Enumclaw on State Route 410. The intersection with State Route 123 is at the pass. The pass carries State Route 410 a ...

, is closed annually and in late 2006, the

Hanukkah Eve windstorm of 2006 The Hanukkah Eve windstorm of 2006 was a powerful Pacific Northwest windstorm in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and southern British Columbia, Canada between December 14, 2006 and December 15, 2006. The storm produced hurricane-f ...

washed out a long segment of the roadway.

Route description

State Route 123 (SR 123) begins at an intersection with (US 12) northeast of Packwood, in the

. Paralleling US 12 and the

Ohanapecosh River The Ohanapecosh River ( ) (spelled as áwxanapayk-ash in the language of the Yakima Nation and Cowlitz Tribe) is a river in the U.S. state of Washington. It is the main headwater tributary of the Cowlitz River, which begins at the confluence of ...

, the highway crosses Boulder Creek and enters a canyon where the roadway encounters (FR 44), a connector from to

. The segment of SR 123 in the heavily forested canyon is the busiest along the road, with a daily average of 803 motorists in 2007. Still in the canyon, the roadway exits the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and enters the Mount Rainier National Park. The roadway enters Pierce County from Lewis County and passes the Ohanapecosh Visitor Center, located above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

. SR 123 crosses Laughingwater Creek and passes Silver Falls and the entrance to Steve Canyon to the

trailhead A trailhead is the point at which a trail begins, where the trail is often intended for hiking, biking, horseback riding, or off-road vehicles. Modern trailheads often contain rest rooms, maps, sign posts and distribution centers for information ...

of the Grove of the Patriarchs Trail. Now following the Chinook Creek, the highway travels into a

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

under Seymour Peak and ends at an intersection with at

History

The history of SR 123 begins with the establishment of the

Pacific Forest Reserve The Pacific Forest Reserve was established by the General Land Office in Washington on February 20, 1893 with . On February 22, 1898 the forest was combined with other lands to create the Mount Rainier Forest Reserve, and the name was discontinued. ...

in 1893, which became the

Mount Rainier Forest Reserve Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

on in 1897, both included the area near the present highway. The

was established as the fifth

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

on March 2, 1907. The Mount Rainier National Forest Reserve became the

Rainier National Forest Rainier National Forest was established in Washington on March 2, 1907, when its name was changed from Mount Rainier Forest Reserve. The Mount Rainier Forest Reserve was established by the General Land Office on February 22, 1897 (effective March 1, ...

in 1907 and

Columbia National Forest Gifford Pinchot National Forest is a United States National Forest, National Forest located in southern Washington (state), Washington, managed by the United States Forest Service. With an area of 1.32 million acres (5300 km2), it extends 1 ...

in 1908. In 1923, a renumbering and restructuring of the state highway system occurred and a branch of , later named the

–

Yakima Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, and the state's 11th-largest city by population. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The uninco ...

branch, was added to the system. The northern terminus of the roadway at Cayuse Pass became (US 410) during the creation of the

United States Numbered Highways The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these hi ...

. The Columbia National Forest replaced the Rainier National Forest in 1933. The branch of State Road 5 became the Cayuse Pass branch of (PSH 5) in 1937. Between 1946 and 1959, a

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North ...

operated at Cayuse Pass. In 1949, the Columbia National Forest was renamed to the

to honor a pioneer of the same name. During the 1964 highway renumbering, the Cayuse Pass branch of PSH 5 became , an

auxiliary route In road transportation in the United States, a special route is a road in a numbered highway system that diverts a specific segment of related traffic away from another road. They are featured in many highway systems; most are found in the Int ...

of . SR 14 became on June 20, 1967 and SR 143 became SR 123, while US 410 became . Since 1974, the

Washington State Department of Transportation The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT or WashDOT, both ) is a governmental agency that constructs, maintains, and regulates the use of transportation infrastructure in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. Establi ...

(WSDOT) has recorded the opening and closing dates of Cayuse Pass. The only season when the pass was not closed was between 1976 and 1977. The earliest closure was on October 7, 1996 and the earliest opening was on March 30, 1992. The latest closure was on January 4, 1990 and the latest opening was June 21, 1996. After the

, a long segment of SR 123, which is only long, was washed out and need reconstruction. Construction started on June 21, 2007 and the road reopened on September 28, 2007.

Major intersections

References

External links

Highways of Washington State

WSDOT – Cayuse Pass
{{State highways in Washington related to US 12 123 Transportation in Lewis County, Washington Transportation in Pierce County, Washington Mount Rainier National Park