Bridge Creek Camp

Bridge Creek Camp is a backcountry campground in the upper Stehekin Valley, at the northern end of the Old Wagon Trail. It’s a useful overnight base where the PCT, Bridge Creek Trail and routes toward nearby ridges meet; save it for a hike, not a quick stop.

From High Bridge, the camp is 5.3 miles one way with about 700 feet of gain, and a seasonal shuttle links Stehekin with High Bridge. The Road’s End cutoff is a shorter 3.2-mile walk; coming in from SR 20 on the PCT and Bridge Creek Trail is 12.8 miles with about 2,500 feet of descent. Backcountry camping is by limited permit. PCTA long-distance permit holders don’t need an additional park permit here; other campers need one in advance.

Expect a shaded forest camp with hiker, PCT, group and stock areas, toilets and bear boxes. Some sites have tables. Water is reported near some sites, but neither its potability nor access from every assigned site is confirmed, so plan to treat it. Check the information board when you arrive for your assigned area.

The flat benches around camp formed over centuries from sediment where Bridge Creek meets the Stehekin River. The river’s steady sound carries into the trees. A short continuation to the Bridge Creek crossing brings you to the creek’s turquoise pools.

Miners and trappers exploring the Stehekin drainage once made a small settlement here, with a post office, general store and boarding house in the 1890s. Newspaper claims that 1,000 people lived here were likely exaggerated. The Old Wagon Trail follows an 1890s haul road; floods in 2003 washed out large stretches of the valley road and left the trail as the maintained route from Stehekin to Bridge Creek. On the walk from High Bridge, the Shady Burn’s fireweed and standing snags give way to old-growth western red cedars, some with trunks 6–8 feet across.