Central Cascades Permits

to pull together the bits and pieces of my recollections into this article.

This climb, at least for me, encompassed a real opportunity for what the Japanese call Munga—total presentmoment awareness. This is essentially the state in which what you are doing is being done totally in the moment, wholeheartedly with no thoughts of anything else. It is pure doing. Or as Clint Wills wrote in his book EPIC: Stories of Survival from the World’s Highest Peaks, “There is a state of mind that sometimes infests climbers in which the end results achieve significance beyond anything that the future may hold. For a few minutes or hours one casts aside all that has been previously held as worth living for, and focuses on one risky move or stretch of ground that becomes the only thing that has ever mattered.”

It’s worth the effort.

Central Cascades. Photo by Daniel Sherman.

The Central Cascades Wilderness Permits will go on sale on April 6, and be required starting May 28. The need for permits will remain in effect during the height of the busy hiking season and will end on September 24, 2021. The new system implements a $1 day-use fee per person on nineteen popular trails in the Three Sisters, Mt. Jefferson, and Mt. Washington wilderness areas.

The following trails will require the $1 day-use permits: ▷Mt. Jefferson Wilderness: Breitenbush Lake, Duffy Lake, Jack Lake, Marion Lake, Whitewater, Pamelia Lake, and South Breitenbush & Crag ▷Mt. Washington Wilderness: Benson/Tenas, and Pacific Crest Trailhead at McKenzie Pass ▷Three Sisters Wilderness: Broken Top Trailhead, Crater Ditch, Devils Lake/ South Sister, Green Lakes/Soda Creek, Obsidian, Quinn Meadow, Scott, Sisters Mirror, Tam McArthur Rim, and Todd Lake

In addition to the $1 day-use fee, all seventy-nine trails across all three wilderness areas will require $6 per trip permits for overnight use for up to 12 people and up to 14 days.

Permits can be purchased at Recreation.gov, by calling 1-877-444-6777, or in-person at Forest Services offices, once they reopen from pandemic closures. Reservations can be made starting at 7 a.m. on April 6. Only a portion of the permits will be available at that time. At least half will be reserved and released every seven days throughout the hiking season.