Box Canyon

Box Canyon is a narrow granite slot cut by the Muddy Fork of the Cowlitz River beside Stevens Canyon Road. The overlook and half-mile loop let you see it from above, then cross right over the cleft. I’d make the stop for both angles and the glacier-polished rock along the trail; you don’t need a long hike to get the point.

A short paved path leads from the main lot to the lower overlook, which looks across the native-stone bridge toward Mount Rainier. Cross Stevens Canyon Road for the loop: it follows the rim, crosses the canyon on a wooden footbridge, and returns along the other side. The west side has steps, so the full loop isn’t step-free. From either bridge, look straight down into the narrow channel; from the lower overlook, frame the road bridge with Rainier beyond it.

The gorge started as a crack in granite, and the current is still at work. Cobblestones, and sometimes boulders, tumble through the powerful flow and batter the walls. At its narrowest, the slot is only 13 feet wide. The Muddy Fork comes from the Cowlitz Glacier about three miles up-canyon. Fine rock fragments scraped from the mountain make its water look milky, and polished bedrock with fine scratches along the trail shows where the glacier once filled this valley.

The stone-faced Box Canyon Bridge is a 160-foot reinforced-concrete arch built in 1950–1952. Its native granite veneer gives it the same rustic look as earlier park bridges, even though it came after World War II. About 100 feet west, the road goes through a 160-foot tunnel bored through solid rock and left with bare walls. The tunnel clearance is 12 feet 6 inches.