By Alex Day, Marketing/Communications & Database Director
Home to Washington’s tallest mountain, extending 14,410 feet above sea level, Mount Rainier National Park offers plenty of options for recreation. With nearly two million visitors to the park every year, many people seek out backcountry park experiences when they’re in search of solitude. Usually, overnight camping or backpacking in the backcountry requires some advanced planning. New to Mount Rainier? Learn all about the park in our park guide.
To camp in the backcountry at Mount Rainier, you must get a permit first. A wilderness permit allows the permit holder and their group to camp in a designated camp or area in the backcountry. Permits for peak season can be reserved in advance by visiting Recreation.gov, and we definitely recommend this for the best chances of getting to camp in the backcountry. Confirmed reservations cost $26 per trip.
Approximately 2/3 of backpacking and climbing permits for trips between late May and early October are available for advance reservation beginning at 7:00 am PT on April 25, 2024. Reservations must be made at least two days in advance of the trip’s start. The remaining 1/3 of permits are issued at park Wilderness Information Centers on a first-come, first-served basis and can only be requested up to one day before your trip. There is a non-refundable $6 fee for all walk-up permits (credit/debit only; cash is not accepted).
In the winter, permits are still required and available through self-registration outside of Wilderness Information Centers, or at the SR410 entrance arch at the park’s north boundary once the road closes for the season.
🌲 Note for 2024: Mount Rainier National Park is piloting a timed entry program for the peak visitation months during the summer at the park. Luckily permit holders are exceptions to the timed entry reservation system. Visit the FAQs page to learn more about how timed entry impacts your trip.
Demand for wilderness camps often exceeds capacity in the summer months – especially for iconic, popular treks like the Wonderland Trail, which circumnavigates the mountain. That’s why the park implemented an early access lottery. Successful applicants receive a specific date and time that their individual early access window opens; at that point, they can create a single reservation at any time. Additional reservations can be made when the remainder is made available in April. (Note that there is a small lottery application fee that is non-refundable.)
This year, applications for the early access lottery will be accepted for two weeks beginning at 7:00 am PT on February 12, 2024 and ending at 9:00 pm PT on March 4, 2024.
Lottery participants will be notified of whether or not they were selected in the lottery starting at 7:00 am PT on March 14, 2024, and the first of the early access windows will open on March 21, 2024.
Have questions about the early access lottery or building a Wonderland Trail itinerary? Check out the park’s Wilderness Permit Frequently Asked Questions page.
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To get started on planning your trip, download a copy of the park’s Wilderness Trip Planner and check the Wilderness Alerts page.
Have questions? The Longmire Wilderness Information Center can be reached at (360) 569-6650 but is usually closed from October through April. Rangers are available from the Longmire Museum year-round at (360) 569-6575.
After you’ve secured your reservation, when it’s time for your trip, you’ll need to activate your permit. To do that, be sure to go into a ranger station by 12:00 pm PT on the day your trip begins. The ranger will ask to confirm the reservation holder’s photo ID, and collect an emergency contact phone number for a friend or family member not on your trip as well as the color, make, model, and license plate number of any vehicle being left overnight in the park. They’ll also share current safety, food storage, and route information, and provide you with a printed copy of your permit and a list of permit conditions. You must carry it with you throughout your trip, as rangers in the field may ask to verify it.
Let the park know if you think you will be later than noon so your reservation won’t be opened up to walk-up permit-seekers. You can pick up your permit up to one day before the day of the scheduled departure.
Enjoy your Mount Rainier backcountry experience!
Prefer frontcountry over backcountry, or not sure about the difference? Want to learn how to secure backcountry permits? Check out the other published blogs in the Backcountry Beginners series:
Follow us on social to get the latest updates on when the next article of Backcountry Beginners is released!
Cover photo: Hiking at Mount Rainier by Nate Brown, WNPF Creative Partner