Chelatchie Prairie Rail With Trail

Chelatchie Prairie Rail With Trail is an out and back 1 mile paved level path that starts at Battle Ground Lake State Park.  Note that inside the entrance to Battle Ground Lake State Park Clark County provides three parking spaces marked for the Chelatchie Prairie Trail where you can park without paying the State Park fee or having a Discover Pass.  Total round-trip walking distance from the parking spaces, to the end of the trail and back is approximately 2.5 miles.

The roughest part of this trail, is the stretch from the parking area to the trail itself. After rains, this section can be muddy, but you do have the option of just walking out onto the park entrance road to reach the paved trail.

The long term plan is to complete a multi-use trail along the full 33 miles of the Chelatchie Prarie Rail line. This plan is held up by the cost of constructing sections where it passes through some areas of slope that would require costly engineering to complete.

There are options to continue further, or to loop back to the park.

  1. Where the paved trail crosses 174th Ct and then crosses the railroad tracks, you could instead turn north on 174th Ct and follow it back up to Palmer Rd, where you can turn left and walk on the road with no shoulders about 450ft to a gated access road to enter the park. This connects you to the trails within the park to walk back to your vehicle.
  2. At the end of the paved path, turn right, and follow the wide dirt trail which parallels the railroad tracks to a meadow. The trail crosses the meadow along the right edge and connects through to 167th Ave. Here you can turn right and follow 167th Ave north to Palmer Rd. Cross Palmer Rd to the horse trailer parking area. Walk up the trail through the meadow into the trails of Battle Ground Lake State Park to return to your vehicle.
  3. At the end of the paved path, turn left to follow a wide dirt trail that extends to a field next to 229th St. This would be a good spot to turn around and return. The field is wet, so good to ride a horse through but not walking or biking. There is a driveway that connects to 229th St, but it is a private driveway, and would require stepping around the gate that says No Trespassing.
  4. The final option available, is to continue along the railroad. I followed the trail (#2 above) to 167th Ave, then turned left and at the corner of 167th and 230th followed a trail straight ahead connecting to the railroad. This stretch of railroad to Battle Ground is a nice walk, but be warned, 1) it is not a trail, so watch your step, 2) it is still a functional railroad line so be alert in case a train approaches. If you walk this route, it would be best to return the same way. Walking the roads to Battle Ground State Park is a difficult task, since many sections have no shoulder, and vehicles passing at 50+MPH.

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