Cle Elum Ridge

Cle Elum Ridge carries the deep, quiet energy of old-growth Pacific Northwest forest – a landscape where centuries of undisturbed growth create a palpable stillness. The ridge sits at the intersection of mountain and valley energies, a transitional zone that indigenous peoples recognized as spiritually significant. Visitors hiking the ridge report a strong sense of presence among the ancient trees, and an awareness of the land as a living entity with its own consciousness and memory.

Cle Elum Ridge is a 9,700-acre forested ridge in Kittitas County, Washington State, within the ancestral lands of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. The Yakama and Kittitas peoples have stewarded this landscape since time immemorial, travelling seasonally through the corridor to berry fields and salmon fishing grounds on Lake Cle Elum. Large summer encampments were established at the south end of the lake, where a village and salmon trap served as a gathering point for families dispersing into the upper river valleys.