For Washington's outdoorsy crowd, 2024 had its peaks and valleys. The year began with scant snow and ended with a lot of it. Summer featured a mixed bag of wildfire smoke, while fall brought a bumper …
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For Washington's outdoorsy crowd, 2024 had its peaks and valleys. The year began with scant snow and ended with a lot of it. Summer featured a mixed bag of wildfire smoke, while fall brought a bumper crop of mushrooms.
Along the way, Western Washington welcomed a campfield that pitched a new type of "roughing it" and the region grappled with a new reservations system to see Mount Rainier. Oh, and plenty of people got outside to have fun in the spirit of healthy competition on skis, bikes and sailboats.
Here's a recap of the year's biggest outdoors stories, from the mountains to the coast and back.
Snowshoeing silver lining
Some good news for snow lovers arrived at the end of the year: The Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest announced Dec. 9 that winter access will remain open during the impending long-term closure of Gold Creek Pond, a popular snowshoeing and winter hiking destination in Snoqualmie Pass.
The five-to-10-year ecological restoration project — intended to improve habitat for federally threatened bull trout — is scheduled to bar hikers from the area starting May 1, 2025, with work scheduled to run annually during the snow-free months, generally until Nov. 15.
The Forest Service intends to keep the area open for winter recreation annually from Dec. 1 to April 30 for the duration of the multiyear project.
El Niño disappointment
This year dawned with plenty of frigid air but not much of the fluffy white stuff. A bout of extreme cold in January resulted in an ephemeral, glorious outdoor oddity in Seattle: ice skating and hockey on a frozen pond in the Washington Park Arboretum.
Overall, Northwest ski areas suffered a below-average season last winter, with El Niño conditions keeping the atmosphere high and dry — or, when wet, too warm — for much of January and February. Mt. Baker Ski Area even canceled its internationally known snowboard race, the Legendary Banked Slalom.
There was something of a miracle March storm, but not enough to turn around the seasonal snowpack averages. Ski areas stayed open throughout the season, though, and the situation was ultimately not as dire as the 2014-15 El Niño, during which The Summit at Snoqualmie closed in mid-February. But there's no denying that the 2023-4 lift-serviced ski season was forgettable.
Ski mountaineers were undeterred, as the first-ever Kulshan Randonnée backcountry ski race took over the flanks of Mount Baker in May. Drawing top competitors from across western North America, including Olympic hopefuls, the event showcased the wild, glaciated terrain that offers prime conditions even after most have hung up their skis for the season.
(Speaking of mountaineering: The sport's signature textbook, "The Freedom of the Hills," published its 10th edition in August under the Mountaineers Books imprint.)
Rainier reservations
The crush of seasonal traffic heading up highways 410 and 706 took a different cadence this year. For the first time in the 125-year history of Washington's signature national park, Mount Rainier required timed-entry reservations during peak hours from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend.
By most accounts, the system went smoothly, reducing multihour backups on peak days, particularly for the most popular areas, like Paradise and Sunrise. In the fall, the park solicited feedback on this year's pilot while management comes up with a long-term plan. Don't be surprised if reservations return next summer, or if land managers enact similar restrictions at other overcrowded recreation hot spots.
Among the gripes caused by the new reservation system: It precipitated a change to the annual RAMROD cycling event (Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day), which initially canceled its July date before postponing to September. And some Seattle-area residents were rankled about restrictions on the ability to make spontaneous trips to the Mountain; the park also did not provide alternative transportation options to the park, like buses.
Openings and closures
Plenty of places to play and stay outside debuted in 2024.
Close to town, two saunas opened — one floating on Lake Washington and another mobile operation that moves between the lake and Puget Sound. Mountain bikers, meanwhile, celebrated 7 new miles of trails in the Raging River State Forest near North Bend.
Farther afield, Japanese outdoors brand Snow Peak opened its first North American campground in Long Beach, landing a spot on Time's list of the world's greatest places for 2024. And Menizei, billed as a luxury base camp for couples, opened in the spring near Port Angeles.
And, standing out from the crowd of forest road and trail-work projects that take place from year to year: long-overdue repairs to the rougher-than-rough road up to the Mount Pilchuck trailhead. Heading to the summit fire lookout is now much kinder to your suspension.
Finally, October brought a sad end to a storied chapter in Washington's outdoor heritage. The State Parks and Recreation Commission voted unanimously not to reopen the Cama Beach cabins on Camano Island following a February storm that damaged a seawall and septic system.
Summer fires
While wildfires didn't spill significant amounts of smoke into Western Washington, outdoor recreation destinations in Chelan and Okanogan counties bore the brunt of several fires.
Stehekin, one of the main gateways to North Cascades National Park, saw an early end to its summer season as flames from the Pioneer fire licked at the town in August. North Cascades Highway also closed and reopened multiple times this summer.
In November, Montana-based consultancy Headwaters Economics released a study about the impacts of natural disasters on outdoor recreation economies, finding that Chelan County has experienced more wildfires that qualified for disaster declaration status than any other county in the U.S. dating to 2010.
Rule changes
County, state and federal officials issued a slew of decisions this year that affect the future of Washington's outdoors scene.
In June, the Metropolitan King County Council voted to allow e-bikes on county trails, which remain prohibited on state trails that are not otherwise open to motorized use.
The State Parks and Recreation Commission voted in July to raise overnight camping fees and to shorten the maximum stay length.
The Department of Natural Resources issued its first-ever statewide recreation plan in October, seeking public comment on concerns that outdoor recreation has led to abuse of DNR lands and infringed on treaty-protected tribal resources.
And, facing a budgetary crisis, the U.S. Forest Service announced a hiring freeze effective Oct. 1 that will mean fewer staff available to maintain trails and campgrounds next summer.
Winter returns with a vengeance
Weather in Washington always ends the year as it begins: in Old Man Winter's grasp.
November saw a bomb cyclone bring down countless trees on lowland trails (resulting in two deaths and temporary closures at Wallace Falls and Squak Mountain state parks).
The powerful storm generated blizzard conditions in the Cascades, leading to some of the earliest ski area openings in years and quelling sour memories of last winter's lackluster snowfall.
Elsewhere, new chairlifts at The Summit at Snoqualmie and a new base lodge at Crystal Mountain Resort highlight major capital investments from out-of-state owners at local ski hills. But pressures remain on Western Washington's scarce road-accessible winter high country, despite efforts to mitigate pain points like full parking lots and traffic jams.
The biggest change? Crystal's return to unlimited access on the Ikon Pass this year. The early ski and snowboard season has been marked by sold-out weekend parking reservations at Crystal and heavy traffic straining Highway 410. The stretch before Summit's season opener proved particularly challenging because Ikon pass holders (who also have Summit access) went to Crystal since they could not head up I-90 toward Snoqualmie Pass.
Crystal, Stevens Pass and Summit all have some kind of parking management system in place this winter, from reservations to permits. Summit set a new industry record this year, charging $55 per day to anyone who is not a ski area customer for parking in its lots, sparking consternation among backcountry skiers and snowshoers for whom there is limited winter trailhead parking.
This year's new Franklin Falls Sno-Park provides some welcome relief for human-powered travelers, but Mount Rainier National Park reducing its winter schedule to four days this year continues to squeeze winter adventurers.
Finally, as you see the year off, pour out a little Champagne for made-in-Washington Riblet chairlifts. This season will be the last for Alpental's legendary Edelweiss, or Chair 2, as Riblets slowly but surely come down at ski hills, popping up in the front yards of nostalgic skiers.
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