The Mountaineers
Visiting Mt. Rainier National Park has felt a little different this summer. For the first time in the park’s history, many visitors are required to purchase a timed entry reservation to enter during peak visitation hours. While the pilot reservation system ends Labor Day 2024, the long-term use of timed entry in the park hangs in the balance.
For the next month, the Park will accept public feedback on their timed entry reservation pilot. This feedback will be used to determine whether to continue with timed entry reservations next summer and beyond. Whether you’re opposed to the system or hope reservations are required during future summers, we ask that you continue our community’s legacy of advocating for Mt. Rainier National Park. Take the Park’s survey to shape the future of timed entry and the final Nisqually to Paradise visitor use management plan.
Addressing Visitor Use at Mt. Rainier
Over the last decade, visitation to Mt. Rainier National Park swelled by about a half a million visitors, many of whom congregate in popular areas like Paradise and Sunrise. Long entrance lines and limited parking have unfortunately become the crux of many a Mountaineers trip - it’s not uncommon for the Nisqually entrance to be backed up to Ashford on sunny summer weekends.
Recognizing the need to address growing visitation, the Park first announced their intention to develop a visitor use management plan in 2020, kickstarting a multi-year planning process that is still active today. Since then, we’ve been active throughout the Park’s public planning process. Our community has consistently provided feedback and served as a strong advocate for developing an equitable and sustainable visitor use management plan. We’ve also consistently shared our concerns about timed entry reservations. Timed entry often makes it more challenging for our programs to access the park for courses and trips, hindering our ability to connect people to the natural world.
The Mountaineers Perspective on Timed Entry
When the Park announced the timed entry pilot, we were surprised. We expected the Park to release a final management plan - the next step in the public planning process - before implementing their preferred visitor use management tool. After all, timed entry was only one of many potential actions proposed during the planning process.
While we support the need for a management tool during peak visitation season, we have concerns with the current iteration of timed entry and strongly believe these issues need to be addressed through a robust public planning process before the Park finalizes a long-term solution. We also hope other management tools - like a shuttle service - are heavily considered. We will submit an organizational comment letter to the Park later this month sharing our concerns with and visions for the future of managing high rates of visitation to the park.
A Call to Action for Our Leaders
While we invite everyone in our community to comment, it would be particularly valuable for our leaders who coordinated Mountaineers trips to the park this summer to share their experiences. Our leaders have the best grasp of how timed entry has impacted our organization’s ability to lead courses and trips at Mt. Rainier National Park.
We’ve heard from many leaders that:
- Moving timed entry hours from 7am-3pm to 9am-5pm would make it easier for early birds (including our climbing courses) to enter the park before reservation hours, while alleviating a consistent afternoon rush of park goers.
- The Park needs to do a better job educating visitors, including by installing informational signage about timed entry in places like Enumclaw, Packwood, and Eatonville.
- Some climbing courses started later than expected after facing long wait times at the Nisqually entrance.
We’ll share this feedback with the Park, and we hope you’ll do the same. If the park decides to move forward with timed entry, we want the next iteration to be as flawless as possible for our courses and programs.
Share Your Feedback
Mt. Rainier National Park is accepting comments on their timed entry pilot through September 15. The Park will use the feedback they receive over the next month to develop their final management plan.
This comment opportunity is as straightforward as they come: the Park has created a survey of simple questions to help streamline your comments. Think of this as a low lift, high reward situation. Park staff want to know what aspects of the timed entry pilot worked, didn’t work, and can be improved. If you navigated the timed entry system this summer, your feedback is an invaluable tool for the park.
Our community has recreated, learned, and stewarded in Mt. Rainier National Park for generations. Speak up now to protect access to this beloved landscape.
