Biohazard Cleanup Near Timberline Packwood, WA

Packwood is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in easternmost Lewis County, Washington, set in the upper Cowlitz River valley just downstream of the confluence of the river's Muddy and Clear forks.

The community was first established as Sulphur Springs and was later renamed Lewis, in honor of Meriwether Lewis, before postal confusion with Fort Lewis led to its final name, Packwood, honoring Virginia-born pioneer and explorer William Packwood.

Before Euro-American settlement, a large village of the Upper Cowlitz people stood at the present-day townsite, whose members near Kiona Creek were known as the ceq'klama.

The Packwood CDP had a population of 319 at the 2020 census, down from 342 in 2010, while the wider Packwood community east of Cora Bridge counted about 1,073 full-time residents.

Packwood sits at the junction of U.S. Highway 12 and Skate Creek Road between Mount Rainier National Park to the north and the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument to the south, surrounded by the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and the Tatoosh, Goat Rocks, and William O. Douglas wilderness areas.

The community serves as a gateway to Mount Rainier's Stevens Canyon entrance and lies about a 30-minute drive from the White Pass Ski Area on the Cascade crest.

Packwood hosts the Packwood Flea Market, officially established in 1973 and one of the largest flea markets in the western United States, held each Memorial Day and Labor Day weekend.

The Cowlitz River has repeatedly flooded Packwood, washing away eight homes in December 1977 and inundating the High Valley area again in November 2006 when the river exceeded 10 feet and changed its course.

Packwood's economy historically rested on the forest products industry until the Packwood Lumber Mill closed in 1998 with the loss of 220 jobs, and the historic Packwood Ranger Station, in Forest Service use from 1928, closed in 2003 as tourism grew in importance.

Packwood children attend schools in the White Pass School District; the first school in Packwood was built in 1915 with a first class of 11 pupils, and the Packwood boys' basketball team won a state championship in 1953.