Hiker Headlines: Mount St. Helens and North Cascades permits, plus a webinar to explain passes and permits

It’s Feb. 29. Happy Leap Day! Mount St. Helens permits will start getting released March 1, and the North Cascades early access lottery opens on March 4. If you're confused about permits, an upcoming webinar can help. And a North Shore Quinault Road closure and snowy weather might affect your upcoming hiking plans. Here’s some news you may have missed while out on trail this week.

We saw some lowland snow this week, and we'll be seeing more precipitation in the mountains and at the passes this weekend. Photo by trip reporter Old Rod.

Leap Day: Happy Feb. 29! It’s a leap year, and we hope you all have a wonderful extra day this year.

Mount St. Helens permits: Permits to summit Mount St. Helens will start being released March 1. All permits are released a month before the date they are to be used (permits released March 1 are for an April 1 climb, and so on). Climbing permits are required to summit during peak season — 350 permits are available daily from April 1 through May 14, and 110 permits are available daily from May 15 through Oct. 31. 

North Cascades permit early access lottery: The early access lottery for North Cascades National Park backcountry camping permits will open March 4 at 7 a.m. and close March 15 at 9 p.m. Enter the lottery on the Recreation.gov website.

Permits and passes webinar: Vive NW is partnering with the Forest Service, Oregon Parks and Recreation and Washington State Parks to host a bilingual (Spanish and English) webinar focused on which permits and passes are needed to visit many outdoor recreation spots in Oregon and Washington. The free event is on Tuesday, March 6, from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. Register online to get the Zoom link. 

Road closure: North Shore Quinault Road on the north side of Lake Quinault will be temporarily closed starting March 1 for construction. This will affect access to the Big Cedar Tree and Kestner Homestead - Maple Glade trails. 

Let it snow (and rain): We’ve got (more) snow and rain coming to the mountains this weekend. Make sure to check the weather and avalanche forecast before heading out to higher elevations, and be ready to hike in snowy or very wet conditions. 

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