How To Navigate The Pilot Timed Entry Reservation System For Mount Rainier National Park In 2024

In case you haven’t heard, Mount Rainier National Park will begin a piloted timed entry reservation system in 2024, similar what several other national parks have done (like Glacier and Yosemite) or popular attractions like Red Rock Canyon outside Las Vegas. From the parks’ website:

Mount Rainier National Park has experienced an approximate 40% increase in visitation over the last 10 years, leading to overcrowding during the summer and damage to fragile ecosystems. In 2024, Mount Rainier National Park will implement a pilot timed entry reservation system to improve the visitor experience to the park by reducing wait times, congestion, and resource impacts on trails caused by overcrowding.

I stayed in Ashford in March several times and accessed trails near Longmire and Paradise

If you have visited “The Mountain” during the summer any time in the last few years, you know how busy it can get and how long the line at the entrances to get in can be. Over 1.5 million people visited the park in 2022 alone. The hope is to spread that out by encouraging visitors to arrive outside of those hours, visit less popular areas of the park like Carbon River or Ohanapecosh or by limiting the frequency by which visitors enter the park on any given day.

Summer visitors visiting at peak times often wait between one and three hours to move through the entrance stations, and parking is frequently difficult at Paradise, Sunrise, and other locations. Visitors avoiding crowded trails trample fragile meadow plants, causing meadow “scars” that take decades to heal. Local residents with property near the park entrances were frequently blocked from their driveways by long lines of idling cars.

The reservations will be for a 2 hour window (just to enter) and cost $2. From 7am to 3pm each day at the park’s three most popular entrances, you will need to have a separate timed entry reservation for each vehicle or motorcycle to enter the park. The Paradise and Stevens Canyon entrances will run May 24th to September 2nd (Memorial Day to Labor Day) and the White River (Sunrise) entrance will be July 3rd to September 2nd (July 4th to Labor Day). If you want to access Paradise or Stevens AND White River or Sunrise on any single day, you will need TWO separate reservations.

Mount Rainier National Park is open 24/7 and year round so in reality, the timed entry reservation system is only 25% of the time you can enjoy the park. However, the main restriction is that this window is typically when all roads and entrances are open for driving.

You will not need a timed entry permit if you already have a wilderness permit, lodging or camping reservation OR you arrive by foot or bike. The timed entry fee is in addition to the established national park fee or pass and is not a guarantee of parking spot in any given lot. You will not need a timed entry anywhere you are not required to pay the entrance fee.

Some permits will be made available the day before you need one and some will be made available 90 days in advance. For example, the first batch of timed entry permits for Paradise will be available on February 21st (for permits May 24th-June 30th).

I snowshoed from the entrance on Sr 123 to Silver Falls and The Grove of The Patriarchs

To summarize, you will NOT need a timed entry if you visit the park:

Before 7am or after 3pm
Before May 24th or after September 2nd
With a wilderness backpacking permit
With a lodging or camping reservation (after 1pm)
On foot or by bicycle
On SR 410 or SR 123
At the Ohanapecosh Campground or Visitor Center (access to Silver Falls)
Tipsoo Lake
Mowich Lake
Carbon River and Ranger Station

I base camped at Ohanapecosh and hiked to Silver Falls and the Cowlitz Divide.

Personally, I do think it is a good idea for the park itself but I do know that this is one more fee that creates a barrier for those with less funds or limits on flexibility. I acknowledge my privilege at being able to avoid the 7am-3pm window (as well as the summer) but I can see how this makes it hard for those spontaneous adventurers or those who can’t access the park with snow or when pavement or shorter distances are needed. From my pictures, you can tell my favorite times to visit the park or how to avoid needing a timed entry reservation!

You can find all the latest details on the timed entry permit system on the park’s website here, including maps of the entrances and trailheads. The $2 timed entry permits will only be available on Recreation.gov so it is best to get them before you drive near the park where reception can be spotty if any at all. You can not call Mount Rainier National park for entry permits! Recreation.gov has all the reservations details like the 2 hour window to use them and how to cancel if you can’t use your reservation (please do so someone else can).

How do you feel about timed entry permits? Do you think this will affect how you you visit the park in the future? The pilot will be used to inform 2025 planning for the park. The Facebook page for the park had many postings about the change in the last year, if you want to know how the pilot goes you can be kept up-to-date there.

I wrote more about the park here: