The Tatoosh Wilderness, located in Washington, in the Pacific Northwest

Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...

 region of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, is managed by the U.S. Forest Service

United States Forest Service

The United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...

 and protects 15750 acres (64 km²). In 1984 it was officially designated as wilderness by Congress.

The Tatoosh Wilderness, a part of Gifford Pinchot National Forest

Gifford Pinchot National Forest

Gifford Pinchot National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in southern Washington, USA. With an area of 1.37 million acres , it extends 116 km along the western slopes of Cascade Range from Mount Rainier National Park to the Columbia River. It includes the 110,000 acre Mount St....

, is a scenic alpine environment that complements the adjacent Mount Rainier National Park

Mount Rainier National Park

Mount Rainier National Park is a United States National Park located in southeast Pierce County and northeast Lewis County in Washington state. It was one of the US's earliest National Parks, having been established on March 2, 1899 as the fifth national park in the United States. The park contains...

. It features Tatoosh Peak, a member of the Tatoosh Range

Tatoosh Range

The Tatoosh Range is a mountain range located in Mount Rainier National Park and the adjacent Tatoosh Wilderness in the state of Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The range runs roughly east–west, beginning with the southeastern Tatoosh Peak and concluding with the...

. Its addition to the wilderness system

National Wilderness Preservation System

The National Wilderness Preservation System of the United States protects federally managed land areas designated for preservation in their natural condition. It was established by the Wilderness Act upon the signature of President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 3, 1964...

 will protect and preserve its natural beauty.

History

Tatoosh means "breast" in the Chinook Jargon

Chinook Jargon

Chinook Jargon originated as a pidgin trade language of the Pacific Northwest, and spread during the 19th century from the lower Columbia River, first to other areas in modern Oregon and Washington, then British Columbia and as far as Alaska, sometimes taking on characteristics of a creole language...

, in reference to the two large rock outcrops on the south face of Butter Peak. In 1932, a fire lookout was built. Martha Hardy later wrote about her experiences keeping watch at the fire lookout in her 1947 book Tatoosh (ISBN 0-89886-005-9).

The Tatoosh Wilderness is accessible from the north from Mt. Rainier National Park and from the south via the Tatoosh Lakes trail. A spur of the Tatoosh Lakes trail extends to the location of the fire lookout that Martha Hardy wrote about, although only the foundations of the lookout building remain.