The William O. Douglas Wilderness includes 166,000 acres located between the
White Pass and Chinook Pass highways and is jointly administered by the Gifford
Pinchot National Forest and the Wenatchee National Forest. It shares a boundary
with the Mt. Rainier National Park on the West. Approximately 25 miles of the
Pacific Crest Trail travel along the Cascade crest between its boundaries. It
contains scattered peaks, sharp ridges, steep slopes and hundreds of small lakes
and potholes, Fish and wildlife are abundant here, and may minerals are found.
While significant portions of the William O. Douglas Wilderness are high elevation
forest the overall topography is varied. The Cougar Lakes portion is characterized
by high alpine lakes, and the Tumac Plateau is dotted with numerous lakes in a
forest setting. The eastern edges of this wilderness drop to mid-elevation pine
forest and bare ridges. The Meeks Table Natural research area, located on a basalt
table mountain, is within this wilderness at its eastern boundary.
The 1984 Washington Wilderness Act designated the Cougar lake Roadless area
as the William O. Douglas Wilderness. Raised in Yakima, Washington William Orville
Douglas went on to become one of our most famous sons. He was appointed U.S. Supreme
Court Justice by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Justice Douglas is remembered
for a long and distinguished career marked by his concern for civil rights and
environmental issues. This fitting tribute honors not only the active role Justice
Douglas played in Federal Wilderness legislation but also his life-long dedication
and love for the Cougar Lakes region. William O. Douglas knew the area trails
intimately, and spent many summers at his cabin in Goose Prairie, WA, a small
mountain community surrounded by the present Wilderness.
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