Central Cascades wilderness overnight permit reservations begin Tuesday

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Deschutes and Willamette National Forests reminded the public Monday that overnight permit reservations will begin for Central Cascades Wilderness Permit System Tuesday morning. Wilderness permits are required for all overnight use within the Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Washington and Three Sisters wilderness areas.

At 7 a.m. Tuesday, 40% of Central Cascades Wilderness overnight permit reservations will be available for advanced reservation on Recreation.gov. The remaining 60% of overnight permits will become available through a rolling 7-day window on Recreation.gov once the permit season begins.

The Central Cascades Wilderness Permit System season has changed this year to June 15 to October 15.  Another change in 2022 to the overnight permits is that new groups can launch daily from every trailhead, rather than having to wait until other groups leave the wilderness areas.

Overnight trips can be up to 13 nights (14 days maximum) with groups no larger than 12 individuals. The processing fee for an overnight permit remains at $6.

All reservations for Central Cascades Wilderness Permits need to be made through Recreation.gov either on-line, via the Recreation.gov app on Google Android & Apple iOS devices, or by calling their call center at 1-877-444-6777 or TDD 877-833-6777. Search for “Central Cascades Wilderness.” There are not any permits outside of the reservation system if you visit one of the Forest Service offices.

Day use permits are required on 19 of 79 trails within those same three wilderness areas. However, no advanced reservations for day-use permits will be available this year. Day-use permits will be opened for reservation in a 10-day and 2-day rolling window beginning on June 5.

Permits for the 10-day rolling window will be 60% of the permit quota while the 2-day rolling window will be 40% of the permit quota. This change was made to reduce the number of “no-shows” and increase the overall opportunity for people to get day-use permits. The advanced day-use permit was indicated as the primary cause of “no-shows”  last year.

More information can be found at www.fs.usda.gov/detail/willamette/passes-permits/recreation/?cid=fseprd688355  If people have specific questions, they can contact the forests' wilderness permit administrator at sm.fs.ccwp@usda.gov .