New Wilderness permits ready

New Central Cascades Wilderness permits for day use opened up over the weekend for the Deschutes Willamette and Deschutes National Forests. It began on June 15th and ends on October 15th, annually. Beginning June 13th, at 7 a.m., the reservation period for two-day advance day use permits will open on Recreation.gov for the permit system.

Day use permits will continue to be available in ten-day and two-day rolling windows throughout the permit system season. Day-use permits are only required on 19 of the 70 trailheads within the Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Washington, and Three Sisters wildernesses. People reserving permits should be aware that though the permits will be open for reservation, the roads to the trailheads and the trails may not be accessible due to late-season snow. Make sure to “Know Before You Go.”

In addition, beginning on June 8th, the reservation period for the remaining 60% of overnight permits opens in a seven-day rolling window for the Central Cascades Wilderness Permit System. In April, 40% of the overnight permits were available for advanced reservation. Overnight permits are required for every trailhead.

All reservations for Central Cascades Wilderness Permits need to be made through Recreation.gov either online, via the

New Wilderness permits ready

Recreation.gov app, or by calling the call center at 1-877-444-6777. There aren’t any permits available outside of the Recreation.gov reservation system.

There is a $1 processing charge for day use permits per individual and a $6 processing charge for overnight use permits per group. An overnight group can be from one to 12 people. The processing charge funds the operation of the reservation system, like processing charges for tickets through Ticketmaster or other reservation systems. Processing fees are non-refundable unless the area is closed for visitor safety by the Forest Service.