Olympic National Park seeks hiker feedback on new overnight permit limits for Enchanted Valley
This summer, for the first time, Olympic National Park will have a limit on overnight camping in the Enchanted Valley. This is a pilot project and park staff want to hear from hikers about this new quota system and how it impacts your outdoor experience.
The lush terrain of Olympic National Park beckons hikers to explore. The park is excellent for backpacking, and you need a wilderness permit to stay overnight anywhere in the park. Some areas of the park have a quota system to limit the number of overnight visitors. This summer, for the first time, Olympic National Park will have a limit on overnight camping in Enchanted Valley. This is a pilot project and park staff want to hear from hikers about this new quota system and how it impacts your outdoor experience.
In 2023, Olympic National Park reported that it welcomed over 2.9 million people to the park. A small percentage of visitors, about 1.7% in 2023, acquired permits to camp overnight in the backcountry. One of the most popular backpacking destinations in the park is Enchanted Valley, located along the Quinault River. Last year a record number of people camped under the craggy peaks in this area.
Olympic National Park wants your feedback on this pilot permit system, whether you get a permit to backpack, or you are unable to secure a permit to visit Enchanted Valley. Photo by trip reporter SavvyExploring.
This summer begins a 3-year pilot where the park will cap the number of people who can camp in Enchanted Valley on any given night. The park determined that it will issue 12 permits for groups of up to 12 people for Enchanted Valley per night and create similar use limits at other nearby campsites.
This change in camping rules will significantly reduce overnight stays in Enchanted Valley this summer and the rest of the pilot period. Historically, there have been no limits to the number of people staying in Enchanted Valley. The park is implementing this pilot change to increase opportunities for visitors to experience solitude and prevent spikes in visitation on popular summer weekends. Adding this quota will dramatically change how people on multi-day trips experience the East Fork of the Quinault River.
Olympic National Park would like to hear about how this change impacts you. The quota limited overnight permit has been implemented on a trial basis. Olympic National Park is accepting comments to inform the permit system through Oct. 15. Comments can be submitted online.
Olympic National Park staff have told WTA that they would like to receive a wide range of input on the new permit system, whether or not you are able to receive a permit. It would be particularly useful for the park to hear if you were unable to acquire a backcountry camping permit, which prohibited you from staying overnight in Enchanted Valley.
Comments
scrampy on Olympic National Park seeks hiker feedback on new overnight permit limits for Enchanted Valley
What a con this recreation.gov reservation system is, just such a rip-off.
Recreation.gov is a private company which is skimming from the parks millions of dollars to manage the website that serves as a national portal for accessing recreational activities on federal lands. Congress has already allocated money to the parks to make access to the parks happen...
For this particular area, the Quinault River and Enchanted Valley, here is how it works.
you have to pay 14 dollars a night to backpack!!!!
I think 7 goes to recreation.gov, and the other 7 to the park.
Unacceptable.
Backpackers should not have to pay a fee to recreation.gov to backpack. None. No fees , but they are and certainly no per -night fee!!! Recreation.gov- I think they have absolutely nothing to do with maintenance of trails, campsites, etc. But they get your money anyway. Like Ticketmaster for the woods.
And the 7 dollars EACH NIGHT for the privilege to put my tent up in the mud: there is no option to gain access with the senior citizen pass . A suit has already been instituted, yet the parks system keeps this going. I already purchased to access the wilderness with my senior citizen pass- but they still make me pay 7 dollars per night..
The wilderness should be for all of us, not for the ric.
In part, I backpack because I can't afford 'lodges'. (I also backpack because I love to be in the wilderness... but, if I had money for lodges, I would certainly go for the comfortable bed and cooked meals for a couple of the nights)...
backpacking should be an affordable way to be in the wilderness...
Problems I encountered with a reservation I made in the spring of 2024 are described below:
Gotta pay the 14 dollars per night (7 dollars goes directly to for profit (and mon-responsive) recreation.gov, not to your beloved national park, no matter what your circumstances are. This system prices out people on a budget.
2. The system provided No adjustment in price with senior citizen passes, and I suppose anyone else who buys a pass, like the golden eagle pass, military, disabled passes.
$14 per night on a senior citizen budget... well, for me, my reservation used up my entire spring trip budget. And then I couldn't use the reservation.
Terrible online system: I spent a long time online trying to figure out how to make a reservation. The friggin site made me make a reservation for each night separately- couldn't figure out how to combine the nights for separate campsites into a single payment. Their anxiety provoking "Clock" is ticking when you try to reserve any site, but it's impossible to plan your trip with multiple campsites.
anyway, in increments of 1 night per transaction, I Paid the money to the for-profit recreation.gov site...
Tough luck if you can't backpack the days of the permit:
A day before my trip was to start, after buying permit for my trip, using up my budget for a spring trip, covid strikes.
So, how about trying to reschedule.
Nope, can't reschedule. Money is recreation.gov's now... the private system keeps my money. Recreation.gov...privatizing and profiting from a national resource.
Recreation.gov only allows non-financial- penalty rescheduling option if you try to reschedule some arbitrary amount of time before the start of trip...
what does it cost them reschedule a backcountry piece off dirt to place my tent near a river? ???
WILDRENESS - not even a drive-in campground.
My permit was for the wilderness... not like reserving a hotel room.. but they treat it like it costs them something. They kept my money.
And when I got well, too bad, my wallet is empty, can't do the trip up the Quinault to Enchanted Valley.
This was in the spring, 2024. NO one else was trying to backpack..Scores of camping spots were available. No one else would have been kept from a trip due to my need to reschedule.
Terrible system.
Our national park is selling backcountry campsites in collusion with a for-profit corporation. This is such a contradiction to the mission of the park system and directly illegally when congress has already appropriated money to manage our access to the parks.
Without having sufficient wilderness for increased population wanting to be in the wilderness, maybe it is necessary to restrict densities of hikers. But it should not cost a citizen to make a reservation to use the National Park in this special area.
The current system defrauded me.
The for profit company handling reservations gets our money... whether one can use the coveted permit or not.
It wouldn't hurt anyone if a someone who purchased these inexcusably expensive permits needs to reschedule---another hiker can pick up a reservation if its available...
In any event, there should be a certain number for day-of entry permits available for people whose lives do not allow planning weeks in advance to be in the wilderness.
Backpackers (and others) need flexibility: Storms, personal obligations, or physical frailties cause need to reschedule. This can't be predicted weeks in advance.
This system is an unjust rip off. Our National park system gives away the beauty and freedom of the wilderness to the private corporation.
"Very bad", as the orange man says.
Posted by:
scrampy on Jun 11, 2024 08:40 PM
Team Saturday on Olympic National Park seeks hiker feedback on new overnight permit limits for Enchanted Valley
With many states dropping Rev.gov and developing their own site is not the only answer for visitors either. Much of the decisions to BP are weather too. Not a fan of rec.gov.
Posted by:
Team Saturday on Jun 15, 2024 08:16 AM
scrampy on Olympic National Park seeks hiker feedback on new overnight permit limits for Enchanted Valley
Wish I could delete or edit my comment- what a rant.
Better to just say that that a better system must be found.
If reservations are the right thing to do, at least design one
-that suggests alternatives (real alternatives, like, if you want a 3 day trip with elevation gain, views, distance, select from 3 real trips. Don’t make us spend hours and hours on making reservations . Use ai, not worthless interfaces
system should let you plan and register multi day trip in same site interaction
-Use federally authorized money to set up a non-privatized reservation system
Don’t make backpackers take unreasonable risks. Make a system that supports backers who need to make changes for health and safety. Current system could have backpackers stumbling off cliffs as they rush, overtired, past an available campsite, through the dark,rain, ice, fog , etc to get to assigned campsite.
backpacking is not car camping- you can’t just drive home if you can’t get to your reserved space.
park system should honor access passes - stop acting like airlines, adding fees for what should be included.
No nightly fee. Use your budget, national park system. Make wilderness affordable for all
Make same-day options. Be helpful.
Posted by:
scrampy on Jun 15, 2024 10:58 AM
Ansel on Olympic National Park seeks hiker feedback on new overnight permit limits for Enchanted Valley
I kind of agree with what Scrampy is saying. Parks should be free to all even when a quota is necessary. If there is one thing that should be free, it is the wilderness (I am not talking about the gear or the cost of transportation). As one of my friends said, we have a genetic right... and the Park squandered its money exterminating the goats on the grounds that they are not native... with no proof...
Posted by:
Ansel on Jun 22, 2024 10:39 PM
Mopre1986 on Olympic National Park seeks hiker feedback on new overnight permit limits for Enchanted Valley
Just had the wonderful experience of camping in the Enchanted Valley. The quota currently is 12 permits, which made it a peaceful, unique experience. The ranger said in years past during holiday weekends there could be over 200 people camping there damaging the meadows as you would expect. I for one hope the quota remains in place.
Posted by:
Mopre1986 on Jul 06, 2025 01:23 PM