Ohanapecosh River (Wash.)

The Ohanapecosh River ( oh-HAN-ə-pi-kosh) (spelled as áwxanapayk-ash in the language of the Yakima Nation and Cowlitz Tribe) is a 16-mile (26 km) river in the U.S. state of Washington. It is the main headwater tributary of the Cowlitz River, which begins at the confluence of the Ohanapecosh River and the Clear Fork Cowlitz River. The Ohanapecosh originates near Ohanapecosh Glacier on the southeast side of Mount Rainier. Most of the river is within Mount Rainier National Park. Its final reach is in Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Mount Rainier is the source of nine major rivers and their tributaries: the Nisqually, Puyallup, Mowich, Carbon, West Fork White, Huckleberry, White, Ohanapecosh, and Muddy Fork rivers. Of these only the Ohanapecosh and Huckleberry are non-glacial. All of these rivers empty into Puget Sound near Tacoma, Washington, except the Muddy Fork and Ohanapecosh, which flow into the Cowlitz River, a tributary of the Columbia River. The Ohanapecosh River is named for a Taidnapam (Upper Cowlitz) Indian habitation site along the river, meaning "standing at the edge-place". The Washington Place Names database says the name may also mean "clear stream...deep blue...or deep blue holes".