Public land: who holds it, and what each pass buys
Washington’s 12,227,674 federal acres are split among five agencies: the Forest Service with 9,356,329, the National Park Service with 1,834,687, the Bureau of Land Management with 437,317, the Department of Defense with 427,406 and the Fish and Wildlife Service with 171,935. The Fish and Wildlife share includes Hanford Reach National Monument, more than 196,000 acres of shrub-steppe wrapped around 46.5 miles of the 51-mile Hanford Reach of the Columbia River.
The Park Service units are the three that everyone comes for. Olympic covers 922,651 acres, 876,447 of them congressionally designated wilderness, with 73 miles of wilderness coast, 171 miles of road and 660 miles of trail. Mount Rainier charges $30 for seven days in one private vehicle or $55 for a year. On national forest ground the Northwest Forest Pass costs $30 a year or $5 a day and is honored at every Forest Service day-use site in Washington and Oregon; an $80 America the Beautiful pass covers those and the parks.
BLM Washington is run from the Spokane District, which describes several hundred thousand acres under direct BLM jurisdiction and works through the Border, Wenatchee and San Juan Islands National Monument offices. Two pieces of it matter to a driver: the Yakima River Canyon, where the BLM manages over 9,000 acres and five developed river sites along Highway 821, and Juniper Dunes north of Pasco, 19,600 acres in three designations that include a 3,920-acre OHV open area and a 7,140-acre wilderness with dunes 130 feet high.
State land is the other half of Washington and it is not federal in any sense. The DNR manages 3.3 million acres of state trust land with more than 160 recreation sites, 80 free first-come campgrounds, 1,200 miles of trail and more than 400 miles of motorized recreation trail. The Department of Fish and Wildlife actively manages more than 1 million acres and about 475 water access areas. All of it, plus the state parks, is gated by the Discover Pass at $45 a year or $10 a day, transferable between two vehicles, and not needed if you arrive on foot, by bike, on a horse or by boat.
- 01Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest: 3.8 million acres along the east slope of the Cascades
- 02Colville National Forest: 1.5 million acres in the northeast corner
- 03Gifford Pinchot National Forest: 1.3 million acres around Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams
- 04Olympic National Forest: roughly 632,000 acres on the Olympic Peninsula, first set aside in 1897
- 05Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest: more than 140 miles along the west slope, Canada to Mount Rainier
Source 1
Seasons: what closes, and when
Snow and avalanche work set the calendar on the Cascade crossings. WSDOT closes the SR 20 North Cascades Highway every winter for conditions and avalanche risk, first between the Ross Dam trailhead at milepost 134 and the Silver Star gate at milepost 171, then down to the Newhalem gate at milepost 120 and the Early Winters gate at milepost 178 as the season deepens. The earliest closing on record is October 17, 2007 and the latest is January 3, 1990. In 2025 it opened on April 22 and closed on December 4.
Chinook Pass on SR 410 and Cayuse Pass on SR 123 go the same way, and WSDOT gives the reasons plainly: avalanche risk, no emergency services nearby, limited snow storage. In 2025 both opened on May 23 and closed on October 24, and WSDOT called that October date earlier than usual. Plan a Cascade crossing in the shoulder seasons on the assumption that only I-90, US 2, US 12 and the Sherman Pass stretch of SR 20 will be there.
Park and forest roads run short seasons of their own. The Sunrise Road at Mount Rainier, the highest point a vehicle reaches in that park at 6,400 feet, usually opens in late June or early July and closes from late September into early October. Cascade River Road usually reaches the Cascade Pass trailhead by the end of June, later when snow or storm damage holds it up. Obstruction Point Road in Olympic runs mid-June through October 15. Forest Road 99 to Windy Ridge is posted July 1 to November 30. The road to Artist Point is typically open by the beginning of July and shuts after the first real snowfall, which can arrive any time from the end of September to the beginning of November.
Hurricane Ridge Road is the exception that catches people out: it is open all summer, and through the winter it is scheduled for Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and holiday Mondays only, weather permitting. East of the crest it is seasonal gates rather than avalanche work that stops you. The DNR runs them in its state forests and has said it plans to keep the Ahtanum gates closed until May 1. Backcountry Discovery Routes puts its Washington route at July through September, when the high ground is typically snow free.
Source 25
What Washington asks of a vehicle
Tires first. When WSDOT posts traction control signs it is unlawful to enter the controlled area without the device the sign names fitted to your drive tires. Where signs read "chains required", an all-wheel-drive vehicle is exempt only if all wheels are in gear, all are shod with approved traction devices, and chains for at least one set of drive tires are in the vehicle. Olympic National Park goes further and requires every vehicle on Hurricane Ridge Road to carry tire chains through the winter season. From November 1 to April 30 a Sno-Park permit covers the plowed winter lots, $25 for a day, $50 for the season, $70 for the special groomed sites.
Size closes roads here more often than difficulty does. The Park Service bans trailers and any vehicle over 22 feet long or 8 feet wide inside the North Cascades boundary on Cascade River Road. The Forest Service does not allow trailers on Road 5400 to Harts Pass and strongly discourages wide vehicles, while saying the road is maintained for sedans. Forest Road 99 is called unsuitable for trailers, with a drop point at Wakepish Sno-Park. Obstruction Point and Deer Park roads in Olympic are gravel, narrow and not suitable for RVs or trailers.
Then the question of where you may legally drive. On national forest land the Motor Vehicle Use Map is the legal document, implementing the 2005 Travel Management Rule through 36 CFR 261.13; on some forests and some roads it allows a vehicle up to 300 feet from the centerline of a designated route to reach a dispersed campsite, and it never allows driving off route to retrieve game. On state and Fish and Wildlife ground in Yakima and Kittitas counties the Green Dot system takes over: roads open to motor vehicles carry a round green reflector on a white marker, and any road that does not is off limits.
Source 12
Five national forests, and the shape of each
Washington has five national forests of its own and shares the Umatilla with Oregon, and their shapes matter more than their names. The east slope and the west slope are different countries, and which forest you are on decides whether you are driving dry pine and open ridge or wet timber and one-lane gravel under a canopy.
The Okanogan-Wenatchee is much the largest at 3.8 million acres along the east slopes of the Cascade Range, and its Naches Ranger District alone runs to approximately 518,000 acres from the town of Naches up to White Pass, which is where a great deal of the east-slope driving in this guide happens.
- 01Okanogan-Wenatchee: 3.8 million acres, east slopes of the Cascades
- 02Colville: 1.5 million acres in northeastern Washington, in the Newport, Three Rivers, Republic and Tonasket districts
- 03Gifford Pinchot: 1.3 million acres, south Cascades, around Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams
- 04Olympic: roughly 632,000 acres, first set aside as the Olympic Forest Reserve in 1897
- 05Mount Baker-Snoqualmie: more than 140 miles along the western slopes, from the Canadian border to the northern boundary of Mount Rainier National Park
Source 28
Passes and routes
-
The BLM ground north east of Pasco covers 19,600 acres across three designations, of which 3,920 acres are a designated OHV open area where cross-country travel is allowed. It is the only open sand area of its kind on BLM land in the state, and it sits in the hottest, driest corner of Washington. 56
- Vehicle
- No fee, but current registration and tabs from your state of residence are required
-
Wilderness Road, Juniper Dunes
The access road to the Juniper Dunes Wilderness, over 7,140 acres of congressionally designated wilderness from 1984, where the dunes run 130 feet high and 1,200 feet wide. The BLM recommends high clearance four-wheel drive and then says plainly that even a high clearance four-wheel drive can easily get stuck on Wilderness Road. Treat that as the warning it is: soft sand, no services, and no vehicles at all beyond the wilderness boundary. 57
- Vehicle
- High clearance four-wheel drive, and it still gets stuck
-
Ahtanum State Forest roads
A state forest of more than 75,000 acres southwest of Yakima, where the campsites are first come and first served at no extra cost beyond the Discover Pass already on the vehicle. The spring gate date is the thing to check: the department plans to keep the seasonal gates closed until 1 May, so an April trip is a different forest from a May one. 19
- Season
- Seasonal gates are planned to stay closed until 1 May
-
Naneum Ridge green dot roads
109 miles of green dot roads within about 279 miles of forest management road
The 71,500-acre Naneum Ridge State Forest above Ellensburg carries about 279 miles of forest management road, of which 109 miles are green dot roads open to motor vehicles. The rest are management roads that are not open to you, which is the clearest illustration in the state of why the marker matters more than the track. 20
-
North Cascades Highway, SR 20Paved
5,475 ft
Marblemount and the Skagit valley to Winthrop and the Methow
WSDOT gives Washington Pass at 5,475 feet and Rainy Pass at 4,862, and closes the run between them for conditions and avalanche risk. The first gates are the Ross Dam trailhead at milepost 134 and Silver Star at milepost 171, moving later to Newhalem at milepost 120 and Early Winters at 178. North Cascades National Park calls the high point 5,477 feet; the USGS surface at the pass reads 5,464. 25
- Vehicle
- Any car when it is open
- Season
- Closed every winter. In 2025 it opened April 22 and closed December 4
-
Harts Pass Road, Forest Road 5400
6,200 ft
Mazama in the Methow Valley to the Pacific Crest Trail crossing
The Forest Service calls this the highest point in Washington that one can drive, ending near timberline at over 6,000 feet; the USGS figure for the pass itself is 6,200. The road was built in 1893 to gold and silver mines. It is maintained for sedans and low-clearance vehicles but hangs on a cliff wall, and the agency warns that passing an oncoming vehicle can be hard even in a car. 32
- Vehicle
- No trailers. Wide vehicles such as motor homes strongly discouraged
-
Sherman Pass, SR 20Paved
5,575 ft
Republic to Kettle Falls across the Kettle River Range
The Colville National Forest calls Sherman Pass the highest pass in the state maintained all year, and gives 5,575 feet at the summit, where the Kettle Crest trailhead and a sno-park sit. The USGS surface at the pass reads 5,577. This is the crossing to plan on when the Cascade passes are gated. 34
- Vehicle
- Any car. Winter traction rules apply
- Season
- Open all year
-
Chinook Pass, SR 410Paved
5,430 ft
Enumclaw and Mount Rainier to Naches and Yakima
WSDOT gives Chinook Pass at 5,430 feet and Cayuse Pass, on SR 123 just west of it, at 4,675. Both shut each winter for avalanche risk, the lack of emergency services nearby and limited snow storage. The 2025 closure came on October 24 after early heavy snow, which WSDOT called earlier than usual. 26
- Vehicle
- Any car when it is open
- Season
- Closed in winter. In 2025 it opened May 23 and closed October 24
-
Sunrise Road, Mount RainierPaved
6,400 ft
SR 410 at the White River entrance to the Sunrise visitor area
At 6,400 feet Sunrise is the highest point that can be reached by vehicle in Mount Rainier National Park. The Park Service allows vehicle camping only in designated campgrounds such as White River, not in the Sunrise lot or along the roadside. Park entry is $30 for seven days or $55 for the year. 49
- Vehicle
- Any car. No overnight camping in the parking area or pullouts
- Season
- Usually late June or early July to late September or early October
-
Cascade River Road
3,660 ft 23.1 miles
Marblemount on SR 20 to the Cascade Pass trailhead
The road leaves SR 20 at Marblemount and runs 23.1 miles, paved to about mile 10 and rough gravel after that, with potholes and washboard to the end. The park’s road report puts the trailhead at 3,660 feet and says the gravel is not suited to sedans or low-clearance vehicles. 51
- Vehicle
- No trailers and nothing over 22 feet long or 8 feet wide inside the park
- Season
- Usually open to the trailhead by the end of June, sometimes early July
-
Hurricane Ridge RoadPaved
5,242 ft 17 miles
Port Angeles to the Hurricane Ridge visitor area
The Park Service describes 17 miles of climbing from Port Angeles to 5,242 feet at the visitor center, the easiest way into the Olympic subalpine. Obstruction Point Road branches off at the parking area and is the dirt continuation, 7.8 miles of narrow gravel open mid-June through October 15. 47
- Vehicle
- Any car. All vehicles must carry tire chains in the winter season
- Season
- All summer. In winter, Fridays through Sundays and holiday Mondays only
-
Obstruction Point Road
7.8 miles
Hurricane Ridge to Obstruction Point
The park calls it a gravel, narrow, winding mountain road, steep in places. It is the highest stretch of dirt a vehicle can drive in Olympic National Park. Deer Park Road, on the other side of the Hurricane Ridge massif, is a similar 9 miles of gravel from the park boundary with blind corners and few pullouts. 48
- Vehicle
- Not suitable for RVs or trailers
- Season
- Mid-June through October 15, weather and snow permitting
-
Mt. Baker Highway to Artist Point, SR 542Paved
5,140 ft
Bellingham and Glacier to the end of the road below Mount Shuksan
The Forest Service says the highway climbs to 5,140 feet and ends at Artist Point, about 24 miles from the Glacier Public Service Center; the trailhead page for the same spot gives 5,160 feet. The road shuts after the first significant snowfall, which can come between the end of September and the beginning of November. Parking is $5 a day or covered by a Northwest Forest Pass. 41
- Vehicle
- Any car. Day-use fee or recreation pass at the parking area
- Season
- Typically open by the beginning of July until the first heavy snow
-
Forest Road 99 to Windy Ridge
16 miles
Forest Road 25 east of Mount St. Helens to the Windy Ridge viewpoint
Sixteen winding miles from forest into the 1980 blast zone, ending at a viewpoint over the crater and Spirit Lake. The Forest Service says the road is difficult to maintain, so repairs and gravel stretches are common, and points trailers to a drop at Wakepish Sno-Park. A $5 day fee or a recreation pass covers the sites along it. 39
- Vehicle
- Narrow and rough in places. Not appropriate for trailers
- Season
- July 1 to November 30
-
Seashore Conservation Area beach driving
62 miles of coast
Cape Disappointment north to the Quinault Indian Nation boundary
Washington State Parks treats the ocean beaches as a public highway across three stretches: Long Beach, 27 miles from Cape Disappointment to Leadbetter Point; South Beach, 18 miles from Tokeland to Westport; and North Beach, 22 miles from Damon Point to the Quinault boundary. The speed limit is 25 miles per hour, driving is confined to the hard sand between the upper beach and the clam beds, and pedestrians always have right of way. 10
- Vehicle
- Street-legal vehicles only. ATVs and UTVs are not allowed
- Season
- Some sections all year, some seasonal, some closed to vehicles entirely
-
Yakima River Canyon Scenic Byway, SR 821Paved
27 miles
Ellensburg to Yakima along the river
The BLM manages over 9,000 acres in the canyon and five developed river sites along the byway at Bighorn, Umtanum, Lmuma Creek, Big Pines and Roza. Camping runs $15 a night and day use $5, with a seven-day stay limit, reservations from May 1 to September 30 and first come, first served the rest of the year. There is no drinking water and there are no hookups. 55
- Vehicle
- Any car
- Season
- Open all year
-
Forest Road 1500-324 above US 12 and Rimrock Lake to the 1400 road
The Okanogan-Wenatchee rates it moderate to easy and says the end of the trail may pass onto Washington state land and become part of the Washington Cascade Overland Route. It sits in the Naches Ranger District, about 518,000 acres running from the town of Naches up to White Pass. 31
- Vehicle
- Four-wheel drive. ORV decal and spark arrester required
-
Washington Backcountry Discovery Route
688 miles
The Oregon border on the Columbia to a border crossing near Nighthawk
Backcountry Discovery Routes lays it out in six sections, from the Oregon border to Packwood, then Ellensburg, Cashmere, Chelan, Conconully and Canada. Its own description calls the route accessible to four-wheel-drive vehicles because every mile of it is at least double-track, and it passes Mount Adams on the way north. 58
- Vehicle
- Built for dual-sport and adventure motorcycles. The whole route is at least double-track
- Season
- July through September, when the high ground is typically snow free
Rules worth knowing
- Artist Point is open about three months a year
- The end of the Mount Baker Highway sits at 5,160 feet, roughly 24 miles from the Glacier Public Service Center, and the Forest Service states it closes after the first significant snowfall, which can arrive any time between the end of September and the beginning of November, and typically reopens at the beginning of July. Day use is five dollars a vehicle or thirty for the year. Plan the drive for the middle of summer and treat a September attempt as a gamble. 42
- Hurricane Ridge is a weekend road in winter, and chains are not optional
- Olympic National Park keeps the road to Hurricane Ridge open throughout the summer, and in the winter season it is scheduled to be open Friday through Sunday and on holiday Mondays only. Every vehicle must carry tire chains through the winter season regardless of what it is driving on. Obstruction Point Road, which leaves from the top, is open from mid-June through 15 October, and the park describes it as gravel, narrow, winding and steep in places, and not suitable for RVs or trailers. 46
- Olympic National Park is 95 percent wilderness
- The park covers 922,651 acres and 876,447 of them, 95 percent, are congressionally designated wilderness. Against that it holds 171 miles of road and 660 miles of trail, plus 73 miles of wilderness coast and 32 named glaciers. That ratio is the whole planning problem on the peninsula: the road system is a ring around the outside with spurs, and everything inside is walked. 45
- The highest year-round pass in the state is Sherman
- Sherman Pass on Highway 20 sits at 5,575 feet, and the Colville National Forest states it is the highest pass in the state maintained all year. That is worth knowing in both directions: it stays open when the North Cascades Highway is shut for the winter, and it is high enough that the weather at the top is a different day from the weather in Republic or Kettle Falls. 35
- Sno-Park permits are a separate purchase again
- A Sno-Park permit is twenty-five dollars for a day, fifty for the season and seventy for a special groomed trail, and permits are available from 1 November through 30 April. It is not a Discover Pass and a Discover Pass is not it. In winter, a lot of the plowed parking at the end of a forest road is a Sno-Park, which is the detail that catches people who drove up to look at the snow. 9
- The pass opening and closing dates are published, and they are not promises
- The Department of Transportation keeps a table of mountain pass closure and opening dates, which is the honest way to plan a shoulder-season trip: it shows what actually happened in past years rather than what will happen this one. Chinook and Cayuse passes close for the season in the second half of October in a normal year, and the North Cascades Highway goes down for the winter and comes back in the spring. Read the table for the pattern and the live page for the day. 27
- Hanford Reach is 196,000 acres around the last free-flowing Columbia
- The monument comprises over 196,000 acres in arid eastern Washington and protects 46.5 miles of the 51-mile Hanford Reach, the last stretch of the Columbia in the United States that is not impounded. It is shrub-steppe rather than forest, hot and open in summer, and it is the least travelled big piece of federal ground in the state. 53
- The BLM here is a few hundred thousand scattered acres
- The Spokane District holds several hundred thousand acres under direct BLM jurisdiction in Washington, along with the Border, Wenatchee and San Juan Islands National Monument offices. Nothing about it resembles the contiguous BLM country of the interior west: it is patches, and the office is the place to ask which patch you are standing on. 54
- Trust land is worked land you are allowed onto
- The Department of Natural Resources holds 3 million acres of federally granted trust lands, with about 546,000 acres of State Forest Transfer trust land and a further 80,000 acres of State Forest Purchase trust land on top. Trust land exists to earn money for schools and counties, which is why gates, active logging and haul traffic are normal there and why the recreation rules read the way they do. 18
- The state runs 80 campgrounds, and they are free
- The Department of Natural Resources manages 80 campgrounds across the state, first come and first served, with a Discover Pass on the vehicle and no separate camping fee. In a state where national park and popular forest campgrounds book out months ahead, that is the most useful sentence in this guide for anyone travelling without a plan. 17
- Fish and Wildlife land is the third system, and it is over a million acres
- The Department of Fish and Wildlife actively manages more than a million acres of publicly owned land and about 475 water access areas around the state. It takes the same Discover Pass as the other two agencies and runs its own conduct rules on top, so a wildlife area is not a state park and not a state forest even when the pass on the windscreen is the same. 22
- Two pass systems, and neither covers the other
- The Discover Pass is the parking pass for Washington State Parks, DNR and Fish and Wildlife land: $45 a year or $10 a day, covering over 100 state parks, 350 recreation sites, 700 water access spots, 90 natural areas and 33 wildlife areas. One annual pass can be transferred between two different vehicles, and you do not need it to arrive on foot, by bike, on horseback or by boat. It buys nothing on federal land. There the Northwest Forest Pass is $30 a year or $5 a day at Forest Service day-use sites in Washington and Oregon, an America the Beautiful pass is $80 and covers federal sites nationwide, and Mount Rainier charges $30 for seven days in a private vehicle. 5
- The metal tag, and what a plated truck does not need
- Washington defines an ORV as a non-street-registered vehicle with two, three or four wheels. State law requires any wheeled all-terrain vehicle operated in Washington to carry a metal tag on the rear, the size of a motorcycle plate, reading RESTRICTED VEHICLE, with space for an off-road tab; riding one on a public roadway also needs a current on-road tab in a bright color visible from a distance. A street-legal four-wheel drive is a different animal: the Okanogan-Wenatchee says every vehicle on a national forest road must be street legal under Washington law, registered, plated, insured and fitted with turn signals, taillights and headlights. Some trails ask for more. Bethel Ridge requires an ORV decal and a spark arrester on all vehicles. 13
- Chains, traction tires and the all-wheel-drive exemption
- When WSDOT posts traction control signs it is unlawful for any vehicle to enter the controlled area without the traction device the sign specifies fitted to its drive tires. Where the sign reads "chains required", an all-wheel-drive vehicle is exempt only if all wheels are in gear, all are fitted with approved traction devices, and chains for at least one set of drive tires are carried in the vehicle. Alternative traction devices count when they appear on the State Patrol’s approved list for passenger vehicles. Olympic National Park sets its own bar: every vehicle on Hurricane Ridge Road must carry tire chains through the winter season. 12
- Stay limits change with the agency
- On DNR land, unless a sign says otherwise, you may stay 10 days in any 30-day period at a campsite, dispersed camping must be at least 200 feet from streams and other water, and it is not allowed within 500 feet of a developed recreation facility, in day-use areas or anywhere posted closed. On Fish and Wildlife land the limit is 21 days in 30 and residence camps are banned. State parks allow 10 nights in one park within 30 days and no more than 90 nights a year across the system. The Gifford Pinchot prohibits camping in one spot for more than 14 consecutive days and more than 28 days in a calendar year anywhere on the forest, and asks you to camp at least 100 feet from lakes and streams. 16
- Driving the beach is driving a highway
- The Seashore Conservation Area is a public highway 62 miles long, and the rules are traffic rules. A vehicle must be approved for highway use under Title 46 RCW, which rules out ATVs and UTVs. The maximum speed is 25 miles per hour, and use is confined to the driveable beach, the ground between the upper edge of the hard sand and the clam beds, with nothing above that line. Some stretches are open all year, some are closed to vehicles from April 15 through the day after Labor Day, and a few, including Benson Beach at Cape Disappointment, are closed to vehicles all year. Pedestrians always have right of way. 11
- The map, not the road, says where you may drive
- On national forest land the Motor Vehicle Use Map is the legal record. It implements the 2005 Travel Management Rule and is tied to 36 CFR 261.13, which restricts motor vehicle use to the roads, trails and areas shown on it. On some forests and some roads it allows travel up to 300 feet from the centerline of a designated route to reach a dispersed campsite, and that allowance exists for camping only. There is no allowance for driving off designated routes to retrieve game. On state and Fish and Wildlife land in Yakima and Kittitas counties, the Green Dot system does the same job: roads open to motor vehicles carry a round green reflector on a white route marker, and any road that is not marked or is not a public access road is off limits. 36
- Fire restrictions are set by whoever protects the ground
- The DNR uses burn restrictions and, when conditions call for it, a Commissioner order burn ban, which stops outdoor fires on all state, county, city and private land under DNR fire protection, including state forests, DNR-managed forestland and DNR campgrounds. Breaking one is a crime, and anyone whose fire escapes pays for the crews and equipment that put it out. Restrictions change through the season and by region, so read the DNR burn portal for state ground and the managing forest or park for federal ground before you plan a meal around a fire. Carry a stove with a shut-off valve so a ban does not change your dinner. 21