The highway, known locally as Lake Cushman Road, travels northwest into the Olympic Mountains from U.S. Route 101 (US 101) in Hoodsport to Lake Cushman and ends at a gravel road east of the entrance to Olympic National Park on Forest Highway 24 (FFH-24).

SR 119 begins at an intersection with US 101 in the unincorporated community of Hoodsport, located on the Hood Canal in Mason County.

[3] SR 119 continues north along the coast of Lake Cushman and Big Creek into Olympic National Forest, where it begins a concurrency with FFH-24 on Staircase Road heading northwest.

[8] The highway between Hoodsport and the boundary of Olympic National Park was transferred to state control by Mason County.

[9] It was incorporated into the state highway system in 1991 as SR 119, a child route of US 101,[2][10] and the last segment between Big Creek and the park boundary was paved in 1999.