The Washington State Hiking Podcast

What parking passes do I need for Washington State hiking?

• Jennie Thwing Flaming and Craig Romano • Episode 74

Share episode
Jennie Flaming:

Jennie, welcome to the Washington State hiking podcast. I'm your host. Jennie Thwing Flaming,

Craig Romano:

and I'm your co host, Craig Romano, Craig

Jennie Flaming:

and I are happy to have you here. We provide practical and timely, seasonal hiking advice for hikers, trail runners and potential hikers and trail runners of all skill and ability levels that is helpful, accurate, fun and inclusive. All right, Craig, today we are talking about the various passes and fees at different trail heads in Washington.

Craig Romano:

Oh, this is kind of a this could be, depending on where you're coming from, people you get all riled up over this, because there's, there's definitely these political, philosophical views, yeah, but we're not going to talk about

Jennie Flaming:

this, no, we're going to talk about the way things currently are,

Craig Romano:

and yeah, and whether you play the game or don't, exactly, yeah. And

Jennie Flaming:

so maybe a good starting point is just to let everybody know that there are places that you can hike without any kind of parking pass. There are some forest service sites, not a ton, but there are places that are totally undeveloped. There's also many counties in Washington don't charge fees. For example, King County does not. There are a couple that do have some sites with fees. But I know we you mentioned Snohomish County and Clark County, so you'll have to look into that for where you live. But you certainly can hike without a pass. But a lot of our trail heads, of course, are covered by passes. So I know I was going to talk with the state ones, and you were going to talk about the federal ones, Craig, where do you want to start with state or federal?

Craig Romano:

Right? So I think, and this is what's really important. Sometimes people aren't aware of who, who's managing the lands that they're going to be on. Yep, so, but it's really important with passes, but, but after we kind of go through everything, I'll tell you my, my fail safe way to address all this, so you don't have to worry about that. So Jennie is going to start with the state breaking it down in what are all the all these state land management areas in the past?

Jennie Flaming:

Yeah, absolutely. And, and one other thing about this too, like we're not going to discuss every trail in Washington right now. That would take forever. Um, so what? And we wouldn't even, I mean, you know, we would miss a lot. So just make sure that you're using your guidebook or the WTA website to make sure you know what passes there are. I have found that all trails does not always have this information accurate. So make sure that you're looking at a guidebook like one of Craig's awesome ones, or the WTA website, because that will be accurate about what land managers are requiring.

Craig Romano:

Yeah. And in my books, I have it right up in the front in the info block, yep, boom. So you know exactly what's needed, and yeah, what the regulations are there? Okay,

Jennie Flaming:

perfect. Okay, so starting there are two different passes that you need, different trail heads at different times for the state of Washington. So the first one, the one that probably most of you are more familiar with is called a Washington discover pass, and that is the pass that it stays with your car, but you can put two vehicles on it, two different license plates, and then you hang it over on your rear view mirror, or You just put it on the dashboard and so it doesn't travel with you. It travels with the vehicle. And you have to have the plate number in there for it to be valid, and that will give you admission to you and parking at any State Park in Washington during the summer, and many of them all year,

Craig Romano:

as well as DNR properties. Yes, yep. And also,

Jennie Flaming:

thank you, Craig. So also, Department of Natural Resources properties that aren't in state parks but they're still state man Washington State managed land. So an example of that would be the mount side trail, which isn't a state park but does require a discover pass, and there are quite a few places like that. Um, 10 away forest is another one where there's places like that.

Craig Romano:

Yep, Tiger Mountain, Blanchard, capital state forest, the alcohol burn, some big, big

Jennie Flaming:

areas. Yep, absolutely. Okay. So that's discover pass. It's good for a year. Uh, whatever month you buy it in it expires at the end of the month at the following year, same month. So if you buy it in November, it'll be good until the end of November of the following year. Okay. The other thing with Washington state is the snow Park passes, and there are a few options with snow parks. But since this podcast is about hiking. So I'll just stick with the basic Washington non motorized state park pass, which is a sticker that you put on your windshield. So that's different from the hanger, right? You actually attach this to your car, just so you know what the other types are. One of them is a groom trails permit, and so that is for groomed cross country ski trails. So if you're just going to places to snow shoe, you probably don't need that, but if you're a cross country skier, then you probably do need that. And then there's also a motorized one, which, again, you might also need, but that's not what we're talking about here. So that's like for primarily snowmobiles. So just make sure when you're buying your pass. And we'll put links to all of these passes down in the show notes. Just make sure you get the non motorized pass, because that's important. And those are usually November 1 to April 30. And one thing that can be a little confusing about the Discover pass is that it is sometimes on federal land. But for example, between Seattle and Ellensburg at Snoqualmie Pass, where the Gold Creek pond is that is a forest service site. So in the summer, you need one of the Craig the passes Craig is going to talk about in a minute. But in the winter, it's managed by what by the state of Washington, they plow the roads. So you need a Washington snow park pass there, even though it's forest service land, and that can be a little confusing, and that's why, again, I want to encourage you to use your guidebook, use the WTA website, just to make sure that you have the right pass for the right time of year, and just to add one more thing onto that, typically, once they start requiring a snow park pass, It doesn't matter whether there's snow or not. The point is, it's the time of year where Washington is managing the access to that land, even though it's federal land. Franklin falls near so called me pass is another example of a place like that, and there, there are many others. So just pay attention to that. Try not to get confused by that. Just know that that's a thing. Okay, Craig, take us to the federal passes and federal

Craig Romano:

and before I continue, you might be listening to Jennie and thinking, Oh, but maybe I'll just risk it. What the heck? Um, you know, people do that, and in some cases, you get away and courses ethical issues, we're not gonna talk. But the fact is, if you don't, you can't get fined, and the fine is a lot more than paying the $30 and so you definitely don't want to air on that. So so make sure you have the right pass, just to save any type of any hassles. And again, I'm going to give you my, my, my, my, my fail safe way of doing all this after I'm done by my spiel. So the other thing is, you're going to hike on any national forest, National Forest property in Washington, Oregon, it requires a Northwest forest pass. And those, I believe in, you'll get it. The interesting, because I've never bought one, I'm going to tell you why. It's$30 for the year, or it's five bucks, five bucks for one time use. And sometimes you can get them at the trailhead, but do not rely on that, because that's not very it's only at a few places. So it's $30 you can get them at ranger stations, I believe, at some of the outdoor like REI, yeah, and they pay a surcharge on that, but it's it's good for. Is it the calendar year on that one I believe. Or is it, or is it for one year? I think

Jennie Flaming:

it's one year, pretty sure. So I usually have the other pass. I think that's what, right? And that's why I'm gonna talk about it in a minute. But I'm pretty sure it's the same as state parks in state. So it's a year out, yeah, a year and probably a few days.

Craig Romano:

So that same thing, you display it on your you display it on your dashboard. And same thing, it's, it's by the by the vehicle. And here's the thing in that kitchen, any national forest site that requires a a parking fee in Oregon and Washington. However, if you hike national parks, okay? And we have three of them here in Washington, North Cascade, Olympic and Mount Rainier, that pass is no good on that. You think, oh, man, Romano, what's up again? Another pass you do. But I'm going to tell you a secret. So all those three pass, all those three national parks, you could do two ways. You can just buy an individual pass. So if you show up for Mount Rainier, you only get there one week out of the year, and it doesn't matter if you're gonna go for a day or week. Gonna go for a day or week, because they're going to chart, it's going to be the past week. And I have this in my book trying to buy, I think it's like$30 for the week for the car load. It could be pricey, especially, you know, if you're where this makes sense, like you're on a vacation somewhere, and you're not coming back, and you're only gonna go there once, and. Sense. But if you live nearby and you're going all the way to Rainier on a regular basis, then you can get their annual pass just for Rainier. And the same thing for Olympic North Cascade doesn't have there's very few sites that are covered under that. So for Olympic and rainier, and like I said before, I have never bought a Northwest forest pass and I have never bought a annual pass to each of these parks. Do you think? What am I a scofflaw? I don't pay. No, I totally believe in the fee system, because we have to pay for the some way there. Yeah, what I get is an inter agency pass. I've been getting them from day one and interagency pass. They come in any forms. Now I'm old now, so I have one for over 62 Oh, awesome. It's over 60 it's called, they used to call it the Golden Eagle Pass. I think people call it the senior, the old geezer pass. Now. But anyways, if you, if you're 62 or older, you can get one of those. It's $80 for it, for it, you're done. Unless you lose it. You gotta buy it again. 80. No, I'm gonna tell you what. How good. But if you're, if you're if you're young, and I had one of these for many you get America the Beautiful pass. And I used to get one of those every year. And same thing, whenever you buy it, it's good for a year out. So you buy it in May, it's good to the following May, 80 bucks for the year. And there's other fourth graders get a pass. It's part of the interagency if you got a kid in school fourth grade, you get a pass for the year. If you're a vet, there's a special pass for you. If you're disabled, there's a special pass. All these great passes. Now here's the kicker with this. Not only does that cover that America, the beautiful the internet covers your national parks here in Washington, it also acts as your forest pass. So again, 80 bucks. Do the math. If you're out once a month, that's covering you. And there's even more, it not only covers your national parks, your national forest sites, it covers your national wildlife areas, your federal area. So a few of those have charges if you're going to these national wildlife refuges. And it gets even better. I use it not only here in Washington. I use it in Maine. I use it in New Hampshire in California, in Florida. It's good for the entire country. At every national park and National Forest, they can't tell me that's not a good deal. So what I'm amazing deal, it's doing, if you're out, just do the math and plus simplify. So every year I have two passes. That's it in this state, two passes. I have my discover pass that covers my state, and I have my National Forest, my interagency pass that covers everything else. That's That's it. You keep those two on you and take them both hiking if you're if you're confused, because it's going to cover you. Yeah. Now, when I, when I travel to other state parks and stuff, there's gonna be other fees, and likewise, in Canada, but pretty much that national that that golden, that interagency pass is going to cover Yosemite, Yellowstone, Everglades, Acadia, you name it, it's going to get you those places. So that's the way. I tell everyone to go that way.

Jennie Flaming:

Yeah. And one other thing, I think that you mentioned this, Craig, but just to make sure people know when one other key difference with the what's called the America the Beautiful, yeah, pass, so the interagency pass, the one that's, that's $80 a year, if you're, if you're not over 62 if you're not a veteran and you're not a fourth grader, is that it's a card that you put in your wallet, so that one follows you as a person, not your

Craig Romano:

vehicle. Yeah, that's that's really important. You do get a hang tag for it so you can use it for your forest service pass, but you have to sign and file. And here's why that's important. And this is what I like about it, as opposed to the to discover pass. I travel a lot, and when I travel, I get rental cars, yeah, and so I'm visiting a National Park in California with a rental car. It doesn't matter, because it shows my My past is me where, if you drive a rental car, here, it could be problematic. Um, right. So it follows you, and it's up to you. Get four, I mean, you get all the rules, but I can take my entire family in with me. I think six adults or so. I can't. It's a really good deal. It is. So it covers us.

Jennie Flaming:

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, for sure. Um, cool, okay, well, and I also agree, like, don't overlook those places like wildlife refuges and that sort of thing that often have smaller fees, but still have fees, and you won't have to pay them. And one other thing I want to just mention again, I'm glad you mentioned this, Craig, is that you can't count on being able to get these passes at trail heads, you know, sometimes there's no cell service, sometimes there's no machine. Sometimes a state park the booth might not be there might not be a person working to pay so, or you might not have a checkbook anymore, you know, so getting these and just having them with you for the year, that's what I do. I just renew them. I have the same two as you, plus the snow park pass, right? And I just renew them every year automatically. I don't, I don't wait until I'm going. But, you know, I also use them a lot.

Craig Romano:

Absolutely. And that's the thing too. With the Yeah, make sure you have the pass. And it, again, depends on where you're traveling. I know sometimes you can get the passes online and it's on your in your in your phone. I know, I know. I remember in Connecticut, I was at a state park, and I have the pass. I was able to purchase it right there off my phone, right, right, right in the parking lot and and same thing in BC. And we'll talk about, we'll talk about upcoming in the Vancouver area. There's a few of the places that charge a parking fee. Same thing. You can do it right on your phone and you're done. Really, really important on that

Jennie Flaming:

cool, great. So I know that the various passes and options that we have in Washington can be a little confusing. Hopefully this helps. We're putting links to all of these in the show notes. I have one more.

Craig Romano:

I just remember too. Yeah, I know of at least one tribe in the state that also the macaws, yeah, have to have their own Yes, park pass that you have to get to. Yeah, same thing you Yeah, Craig, can you

Jennie Flaming:

just share where the Makah people live and where you need that pass? And I should say that, like Craig and I have been to a lot of places in Washington, but we have not been everywhere, right? So this is why just coming back to this point of researching it before you go somewhere, to make sure you know what pass you need. So, yeah, Craig, can you share a little bit about the

Craig Romano:

macaw pass? Yeah, the Makah nation is the absolute farthest Northwest point in the state. So Nia Bay, Cape Flattery, that area where the Strait of Juan de Fuca empties into the Pacific. Some beautiful hiking there. And the Makah people pretty much will allow you to hike the trails. They have some nice beaches, but you just have one of their passes, and you can get it at about five or six different places, right on right on the reservation. So it's not very difficult to get Yep, and it's the same thing. It'll be good for the year. So if you're going to shy, shy or or Cape Flattery, or going out to hobu beach, you're going to need that pass. Yep,

Jennie Flaming:

awesome. Thank you. All right, everybody the um, so just to wrap up about passes federal land, if you have that annual federal lands pass, the America the Beautiful pass, then you don't also need a Northwest forest pass, because that covers everything that's federal as long as it's not winter in A snow Park. And then for state of Washington lands, including our State Parks Department of Natural Resources land and some a few other places, you need a discover pass. And then snow park for winter. One more thing I'm going to say about the America the Beautiful pass, because it's a little card. It's like a credit card. I'm lazy, and I never put it in its little hanger. I just throw it on the dashboard, and I will tell you that it is possible for it to slide between the windshield and the vents in the front of your car, and it's impossible to get it out. So keep that in. The

Craig Romano:

other thing, I'll warn you, don't be like me if you leave it on your dashboard on a hot day, it will work and you'll have a good time putting it back into your

Jennie Flaming:

wallet. All right. Well, bye for now, everybody. If you're enjoying the podcast, we would love to have you leave us a rating or review wherever you're listening that will really help other people find us. And don't forget, there's a link to Craig's books and my email list in the show notes you

People on this episode

Head Shot

Jennie Thwing Flaming

Host
Head Shot

Craig Romano

Co-host