By Alex Day, Marketing and Communications Director
🛑 Travel Alerts: Be sure to check the park’s Alerts & Conditions page for alerts and closures that might impact your trip.
Home to some of the most remote landscapes in Washington, the rugged wilderness sanctuary within the North Cascades National Park Service Complex is the most heavily glaciated area in the United States outside of Alaska, boasting over 300 glaciers and countless cascading waterfalls and lakes.
Every year, the park attracts more visitors seeking true wilderness. If you’re interested in experiencing overnight camping or backpacking in the backcountry of North Cascades National Park, you’ll want to do some advanced planning.
New to the North Cascades? Learn all about the park in our park guide.
A wilderness permit is required year-round to camp in designated backcountry campsites or areas. Permits for peak season can be reserved in advance on Recreation.gov.
About 60% of backcountry sites are available for advance reservations during peak season. Reservations must be made at least two days before the trip start date. The remaining 40% of permits are issued on a first-come, first-served basis and can only be requested up to one day before your trip. The general on-sale period for reservations opens at 7 AM PT on April 29, 2026.
When the Wilderness Information Center in Marblemount is closed for the winter season (usually the first week of October), self-issue permits are available outside the ranger station in Marblemount, or you can submit your permit via email (find instructions here).
Demand for wilderness camps often exceeds capacity in the summer months – especially for iconic, popular sites like those along Cascade Pass and Sahale Arm, a beautiful trail through alpine meadows that offers dramatic, panoramic mountainous scenery. That’s why the park implemented an early access lottery.
Successful applicants receive early access to reservations, which gives them the best chance of securing permits. Lottery participants with later access may not be able to secure their preferred itinerary, but can create an alternative trip using available camps. Additional reservations can be made once the remainder becomes available at the end of April. (Note that there is a small lottery application fee that is non-refundable.)
Early-Access Lottery applications will be accepted anytime between March 2, 2026 and 9:00 PM PT on March 13, 2025.
Lottery participants will be notified of whether or not they were selected in the lottery on March 20, 2026, and the first of the early access windows will open on March 24, 2026 and close on 9 PM PT April 21, 2026.
Each early access lottery application or permit reservation is subject to a non-refundable $6.00 fee. (But good news: if you are successful in the early access lottery, no additional permit reservation fee is due!) The park also charges the $6 permit reservation fee for first-come, first-served permits issued in person.
There’s also a $10 per-person, per-night Recreation Fee, though youth ages 15 and under are free.
To get started, head to the park’s Wilderness Trip Planner and check for camp and trail closures on the Trail Conditions page. The park also has an informative video to walk you through the process. Fun fact: this video was made possible with funding from Washington’s National Park Fund.
Have questions? The park’s Wilderness Information Center and wilderness rangers can be reached by email at noca_wilderness@nps.gov or by calling (360) 854-7245.
When it’s time for your trip, if you have a confirmed reservation, you’ll need to activate your permit. You will either do this in person or it might be remotely issued by a wilderness ranger, depending on where your trip will be located. Visit this page and scroll down to find the pickup location for a permit.
Note: You can pick up your permit up to three days before your trip starts. Reserved permits must be picked up by 11:00 AM PT on the trip start date, though; otherwise, the reservation may be cancelled. Be sure to contact the park (noca_wilderness@nps.gov) if you think you will be later than 11:00 am so your reservation won’t be opened up to walk-up permit-seekers.
Enjoy the backcountry beauty of the North Cascades!
Do you prefer frontcountry over the backcountry, or not sure the difference? Curious on how the permit process works for the other parks? 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: A colorful North Cascades sky by Michael Freedman, WNPF Creative Partner
Editor’s Note: WNPF updates this blog annually to reflect the current year’s permitting process.