Name: Mailbox Peak Trail
Rating: 4.5

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Dogs Leashed

Features Birding · Historical Significance · River/Creek · Views · Wildlife

Family Friendly Somewhat steep, and with a lot of elevation gain, but not so bad if you take your time.

Overview

This trail is an easier route up to see the famous mailbox and views at the top of a peak. The Mailbox Peak - Old Trail, also called Mailbox Peak Primitive Trail, is still there, it's just a lot more difficult than this newly-constructed trail.

Need to Know

With the new trail also came parking for 60 and bathrooms at the trailhead. A Discover Pass is required for parking.

Description

The lower part of the trail contains a couple of bridges and small creek crossings, followed by several miles of switchbacks (nearly doubling the length of the OLD trail), containing a few more creeks to cross - waterproof footwear suggested. The last half-mile meets with the OLD trail to take you up the last steep ascent to the Mailbox.

From the top are great views of the nearby Granite and Bandera Mountains. As with most peak hikes in this area, the view of Rainier is captivating. Be sure to take a look in the Mailbox as visitors leave all sorts of messages and surprises!

History & Background

The OLD trail up Mailbox was a rite of passage in many ways, is still frequently used to train for mountaineering ascents. However, after numerous injuries, and rescues, and increased erosion, DNR invested in creating a more gentle trail to the infamous Mailbox.

Contacts

Local Club: Washington Trails Association (WTA)

May 28, 2026: Effectiveness of Chainsaw Chaps Against Battery Powered Saws

May 28, 2026: Effectiveness of Chainsaw Chaps Against Battery Powered Saws.pdf

May 28, 2026: Hiker Headlines: Rainier roads open, Enchanted Valley permits releasing soon, Marblemount bridge nightly closures

Land Manager: WA Department of Natural Resources

Shared By:

Jackie Clark with improvements by Matt Schonwald

Full Details

Trail Ratings

4.5 from 63 votes

#2

in North Bend

#164

Overall

4.5 from 63 votes

5 Star		61%
4 Star		31%
3 Star		5%
2 Star		2%
1 Star		2%

Recommended Route Rankings

35 Views Last Month

10,941 Since May 28, 2015

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Photos

Jun 22, 2015 near Riverbend, WA

Jul 14, 2020 near Riverbend, WA

May 29, 2015 near Riverbend, WA

Jun 22, 2015 near Riverbend, WA

Infamous Mailbox on a snowy November day.

May 29, 2015 near Riverbend, WA

Jun 22, 2015 near Riverbend, WA

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Weather

Current Trail Conditions

All Clear 3 days ago

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Check-Ins

Apr 25, 2025

Anonymous

Jun 12, 2024

John Eun

Partly cloudy at the top — 4h 24m

Jun 15, 2023

Michael Young

Jun 1, 2023

Garret Maier

There have been updates to the trail. Rocky trail 3 miles up and rock garden for last mile. 10.8mi — 4h 50m

Oct 8, 2022

Brendan GY

Justin and I tackled Mailbox Peak

Sep 7, 2022

Tania Muñoz

Kanae Absalon y yo. Old trail ascent, new trail descent 9.9mi — 5h 43m

Jul 17, 2022

Sam Warner

5h 42m

Jul 9, 2022

Stefano Guidolin

2:07 up and 1:53 down. Though. 9.7mi — 4h 30m

Apr 9, 2022

Xzill Erationer

Jul 31, 2021

Vivek Bisen

Jul 14, 2021

Scott Lane

Jun 25, 2021

Jared Stewart

Great view of Mt Rainier from the top of Mailbox Peak. 11.4mi — 7h 03m

May 16, 2021

Jeannette Johnsen

Lades bathroom in need of t.p... there than that lovely we did the old trail up and the new trail down... we will be back. Really recommend polls 11.3mi

Nov 27, 2020

zebbadiah bruser

Aug 5, 2020

Monica Thorne

Old trail done 7/25

Jul 5, 2020

G C

2h 07m

Jul 2, 2020

Carly Verboort

Jun 16, 2020

Mike Foster

Jun 6, 2020

Steven Yu

May 23, 2020

Steven Yu

11.6mi — 4h 36m

May 23, 2020

Private User

Mar 9, 2020

M Chow

12mi

Oct 13, 2019

Ana Ramirez Alcantar

Oct 5, 2019

Shawn Dier

Long climb to a fun peak. Mailbox was fun to explore though. GPS clocked this at 14 miles car to car. Not sure that accurate though. — 5h 35m

Oct 5, 2019

Rachel Dier

Sep 28, 2019

Wenmei Dong

Aug 24, 2019

Chelsea Hillis

Great well maintained trail. Incline is greater within the last mile to the top. We saw goat up there too! 12mi — 5h 31m

Aug 17, 2019

William Marcus

Aug 17, 2019

Nichole Snorteland

10mi

Aug 12, 2019

Lindsey Kaiser

10mi

Aug 3, 2019

Kenny Immanuel

Jul 29, 2019

Lynn L

Well maintained trail, with great Mountain View's and wild flowers 12mi — 4h 15m

Jul 29, 2019

G C

down — 2h 00m

Jul 27, 2019

Kevin Melchior

Jul 25, 2019

Lindsey Kaiser

10mi

Jul 20, 2019

Lal W.

Hiked up the Old trail & descend thru new Mailbox trail. It's easy coming down but it took longer. Never been so eager to finish a hike til this day! 5.2mi — 3h 15m

Jul 19, 2019

Shun Kanazawa

12mi — 5h 44m

Jul 7, 2019

G C

215 down — 2h 15m

Jul 5, 2019

Farid Nasiri

sd 11mi

Jun 21, 2019

Heidi Nicole

Jun 8, 2019

Troy Han

Jun 2, 2019

Elias Mueggler

May 26, 2019

Wes Geisenberger

May 22, 2019

Gabriel McHugh

Up the new and down the old — 5h 00m

May 19, 2019

Sisi Alice

May 18, 2019

Mind Ru

Amazing 11mi — 4h 50m

May 11, 2019

Ed Heyman

Went up old trail. Return via new (till the lowest switch back near the old) where I rejoined the old trail. New is cooler being on the North slope. 7mi

May 7, 2019

Sarah Marshall

May 2, 2019

Gary Gan

Jan 24, 2019

Derek Lee

10.4mi — 5h 00m

Jan 13, 2019

Tom Dakan

new trail up, old trail down 6.3mi

Oct 6, 2018

Joey Altchech

Oct 5, 2018

Steve Warren

Sep 19, 2018

Steve Latimer

LONG hike back down new trail. 4.7mi

Aug 18, 2018

Virginia Gulett

11.2mi

Aug 11, 2018

marcelo garrone

w/Raoel

Aug 4, 2018

Uyen M

Aug 3, 2018

Addison Pratt

9.7mi

Jul 20, 2018

Sasha Conley

Hard hike. Not. 9.7 miles. 12mi

Jul 14, 2018

Andrew Davis

Jul 7, 2018

Sergey Tigayev

Jul 7, 2018

Malcolm Mikkelsen

Did Old up and new down. Quite the challenge.

Jul 5, 2018

Sophia Riffkin

Jul 3, 2018

Melody Chang

Jul 1, 2018

Will Schott

9.8mi — 5h 00m

Jun 30, 2018

Sophia Riffkin

Jun 26, 2018

John Barsanti

9.7mi

Jun 21, 2018

Mona Sangesland

May 26, 2018

Michael Bautista

The View its Awesome! The hike is hardcore. Butt Kicker! We take the new trail goin up and old trail on the way back, Great hike 9.7mi

May 26, 2018

Julie McVey

May 20, 2018

Inga Anderson

It was a foggy day so we didn't end up seeing anything at the top except the mailbox. but it was a great hike! 10.7mi — 6h 40m

May 14, 2018

Mel Masuda

With Amy. Felt great on this hike. Slow on the rock fields due to her comfort level. 9.7mi

May 12, 2018

Alexander Whitney

May 12, 2018

Der Ek

May 6, 2018

Casey Schmidt

Came down the new trail after climbing the old trail. Beautiful summit with 360degree views; able to see Baker, Si, and the top of Rainier.

Apr 13, 2018

Galen Collins

Mar 18, 2018

Alfred Cazares

12.1mi

Jan 7, 2018

Abhishek Kumar

Dec 21, 2017

Anna McClenny

Took the old route up and new route down. Went down in the dark, but not slippery. 4.8mi

Nov 30, 2017

Jay Kim

Oct 28, 2017

Jordan Hathaway

Oct 16, 2017

Beth Sberna-Neill

Oct 10, 2017

Dania Rinker

9.7mi

Oct 7, 2017

James Groom

First hiking expedition in a long time with starbucks partners of olive Way. 9.7mi

Sep 23, 2017

Chandramouli Subbarayan

Aug 28, 2017

Nick Reed

Aug 21, 2017

Jay Rosencrantz

Aug 6, 2017

Jeremy Hiking WA

Jul 23, 2017

Tingwei Chang

Jul 19, 2017

Clarissa Lu

Jul 16, 2017

Dave Clayton

With Apollo 11.5mi

Jul 12, 2017

Albert Shiue

Up old down new 7.2mi

Jul 8, 2017

Gaurav Khanna

4.8mi

Jun 26, 2017

Justin Newman

Jun 24, 2017

Dmitriy Chernenko

4.7mi

May 29, 2017

Margus Rumberg

May 21, 2017

Ryan Waters

Apr 25, 2017

Tyler Finley

Apr 21, 2017

Ashley Biermann

Snowy at top of trail, maybe 1 or 2 miles, before the meet up point with the old mailbox trail. 4.8mi

Mar 31, 2017

Andy Hutchins

Mar 11, 2017

Piki Rahmani

Dec 2, 2016

James Miller

Aug 21, 2016

Griffin Munzel

Jun 18, 2016

Private User

Nov 23, 2014

Jackie Clark

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Mailbox Peak Trail

“An infamous (easier) hike with a mailbox (maintained by volunteers) at the top! ”

9.7

15.5

Out and Back

4,614' 1,406 m

841' 256 m

3,848' 1,173 m

3,848' 1,173 m

15%

66%

Toolbox

Know This Trail?

Dogs Leashed

Features Birding · Historical Significance · River/Creek · Views · Wildlife

Family Friendly Somewhat steep, and with a lot of elevation gain, but not so bad if you take your time.

Overview

Need to Know

Description

History & Background

Contacts

Shared By:

Trail Ratings

#2

#164

#2

#10

#164

Photos

0 Comments

Comment Type:

Weather

Current Trail Conditions

Check-Ins

Nearby Recommended Routes

Weeks Falls to Twin Falls

Mt. Si

Thompson Lake via Mt. Defiance

Snoqualmie, Deer, and Bear Lakes

Kendall Katwalk

Kendall Peak Lakes

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