Residents of the Cowlitz Valley quickly learn that the roving bands of white-rumped elk aren’t much like deer—they don’t spook easily and are happy to cause a traffic jam if they don’t feel like moving. They’re hunted in the surrounding woods, but in town they’re more like neighbors with no boundaries.

After centuries of use by Indigenous Upper Cowlitz hunters and gatherers, the valley was nicknamed the Big Bottom by white newcomers in the nineteenth century; the timber and mining industries followed decades later. Historic Hotel Packwood has operated since 1912, but today its rooms sport statement wallpaper and revamped bathrooms.

Now a town crowded with second homes and short-term rentals, Packwood boasts more beer makers than stoplights. Packwood Brewing Company’s outdoor firepits and live music serve as the main drag’s main party spot, but in 2023 Longmire Springs Brewing launched its brewery and tasting room nearby. 

Prudes beware at Fat Elk Trading Co., where the owner-artist’s handcrafted ceramics include cups shaped like the naked female form. Most pieces celebrate the area’s flora and mountainscapes, however, and are sold alongside a small collection of other local crafts.

Though Mt. Rainier National Park’s lesser-used Ohanapecosh Visitor Center sits just to the north, Skate Creek Park a delivers even speedier access to shaded picnic tables and rustic forest trails, plus the rare local chance to wander to the shores of the Cowlitz River. Verdant La Wis Wis Campground just east of town has reservable sites. 

While nearby White Pass Ski Area steals the spotlight in snowy months, summer means two editions (Memorial and Labor Day weekends) of the massive Packwood Flea Market, active since the 1970s. Vendors set up shop along Highway 12 and in parking lots, hawking vintage clothes, handmade crafts, and antiques.

Little has changed since the middle of the last century at dive bar Blue Spruce Saloon and Grill, where a posted sign forbids politics, religion, and arm wrestling. Cliff Droppers serves smashburgers in a retro setting with Sasquatch decor, while newcomer Santo Milagro has expert breakfast burritos and plate-size conchas available all day.