State Route 165 (SR 165) 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 ...

Pierce County, Washington Pierce County is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 921,130, up from 795,225 in 2010, making it the second-most populous county in Washington, behind King County, and the 60th-most populous ...

, United States. It travels north–south along the

Carbon River The Carbon River is a river in the U.S. state of Washington. It flows about 30 miles (48 km) from its source, the Carbon Glacier on Mount Rainier, to join the Puyallup River at Orting. Charles Wilkes called the river the "Upthascap River", ...

between

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 ...

near

Mowich Lake Mowich Lake is a lake located in the northwestern corner of Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state at an elevation of . The name "Mowich" derives from the Chinook jargon word for deer. Access to the lake is provided by a long unpaved ro ...

to a junction with SR 410 in

Buckley Buckley may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Buckley's, a Canadian pharmaceutical corporation * Buckley Aircraft, an American aircraft manufacturer * Buckley Broadcasting, an American broadcasting company * Buckley School (California), ...

. The highway passes through the towns of

Carbonado Carbonado, commonly known as black diamond, is one of the toughest forms of natural diamond. It is an impure, high-density, micro-porous form of polycrystalline diamond consisting of diamond, graphite, and amorphous carbon, with minor crystall ...

and Wilkeson and also intersects SR 162 near South Prairie. SR 165 is the only state highway in Washington to include an unpaved section.

Route description

SR 165 begins at the western boundary of

on Mowich Lake Road, which continues east for to a campground at

on the northwestern flank 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 ...

. Mowich Lake Road is open seasonally from July to October, remaining closed to vehicular traffic during the winter and spring due to weather conditions. The southernmost section of the highway is an unpaved

gravel road A gravel road is a type of unpaved road surfaced with gravel that has been brought to the site from a quarry or stream bed. They are common in less-developed nations, and also in the rural areas of developed nations such as Canada and the Unite ...

—the only one to be included in Washington's state highway system. The highway travels northwest along Evans Creek through a section of the

Mount Baker–Snoqualmie National Forest The Mount Baker–Snoqualmie National Forest in Washington is a National Forest extending more than along the western slopes of the Cascade Range from the Canada–US border to the northern boundary of Mount Rainier National Park. Administered ...

, passing several

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 ...

s. At a junction with Fairfax Forest Reserve Road, which serves an alternate entrance to Mount Rainier National Park, SR 165 turns north to follow the

, which it crosses on the Fairfax Bridge, a single-lane arch bridge. The highway continues along the east bank of the Carbon River to

, where it passes through the east side of the town and neighboring Wilkeson. SR 165 continues north and intersects SR 162 east of South Prairie, turning northeast to follow the

Foothills Trail The Foothills Trail is a National Recreation Trail in South and North Carolina, United States, for recreational hiking and backpacking. It extends from Table Rock State Park to Oconee State Park. It passes through the Andrew Pickens Ranger Dis ...

. The highway terminates at SR 410 in southwestern

. SR 165 is maintained by 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), which conducts an annual survey on state highways to measure traffic volume in terms of

annual average daily traffic Annual average daily traffic, abbreviated AADT, is a measure used primarily in transportation planning, transportation engineering and retail location selection. Traditionally, it is the total volume of vehicle traffic of a highway or road for a y ...

. Average traffic volumes on the highway in 2016 ranged from a minimum of 190 vehicles near its junction with Fairfax Forest Preserve Road to a maximum of 6,900 vehicles near SR 410 in Buckley. Carbon River Bridge

History

SR 165 was added to the state highway system in 1931 as a part of State Road 5. The highway had been preceded by a series of logging roads constructed in the early 20th century by private companies with claims near the national park. An unpaved road along the Carbon River leading to the national park opened in 1921, including the James R. O'Farrell Bridge (now the Fairfax Bridge, which opened on December 17. The

Bureau of Public Roads The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...

surveyed the route for a potential connection between the Carbon River and Nisqually entrances to Mount Rainier National Park in the 1920s, but did not fund its construction. In 1937, State Road 5 was renamed Primary State Highway 5, and what is now SR 165 was the Enumclaw-Fairfax branch of that highway (except between Enumclaw and Buckley, which is now SR 410). The road to Mowich lake was completed in 1933, but remained closed to vehicular traffic until 1955. When the current highway numbering system was developed with the 1964 renumbering, the highway became State Route 165.

Major intersections

References

{{Reflist

165 Year 165 ( CLXV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Orfitus and Pudens (or, less frequently, year 918 ''Ab urbe condita'' ...

Transportation in Pierce County, Washington