Visitors heading to Mount Rainier National Park in 2026 will no longer need a timed entry reservation to enter during peak summer hours, according to an announcement made last week.
“The park will continue to monitor and document congestion and overcrowding on park roads and trails, within parking lots, and at the park’s entrances,” the National Park Service website read.
The NPS did not respond to The Seattle Times’ request for an interview.
Timed entry reservations are currently not required to visit any part of the national park. For the past two years, the park has required timed entry reservations during peak summer visitation times.
In an emailed statement, Graham Taylor, the Northwest senior program manager at the National Parks Conservation Association, criticized the Trump administration’s decision to cancel the pilot reservation program with “no clear explanation” as a “major setback” for the park. Taylor said the reservation system helped address visitor frustrations including congestion, traffic jams, blocked driveways and lines.
“This couldn’t come at a worse time,” Taylor said. “The state’s closure of the Fairfax Bridge has already eliminated a key access point on the park’s northwest side, meaning more visitors are being funneled through fewer entrances, exacerbating the challenging conditions timed entry is designed to improve.”
The 103-year-old Fairfax Bridge, which provided access to the park’s Mowich Lake Entrance, Carbon River Ranger Station and other outdoor recreation areas via State Route 165, was closed to all pedestrian and vehicle access due to safety concerns in April 2025.
The timed-entry reservation system at Mount Rainier National Park first rolled out as a pilot program in the summer of 2024. The system, which required reservations during peak visitation hours in the summer, was proposed in the hope of improving the visitor experience and congestion issues inside the park and in the surrounding areas.
In 2024, the Paradise Corridor entrance required reservations between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. from May 24 to Sept. 2. The Sunrise Corridor required reservations during the same hours, but from July 3 to Sept. 2.
The reservation system returned again in 2025, but this time only at the Sunrise Corridor as there were construction projects at the Paradise Corridor. Last year, reservations were required from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., an additional two hours later than the first year’s cutoff.
Both years, the reservations were made online for $2. This did not include the park entrance fee of $30 per vehicle.
Other national parks including Yosemite National Park, Glacier National Park and Arches National Park had reservation systems in place during peak visitation times in 2025.
Changes may be coming to those systems as well. The Yosemite website currently says that National Park Service is currently reviewing the system to “determine whether to continue or adjust it in future years” and will provide an update to the public when a decision has been made. The Arches website directs the public to check the webpage and social media for the “latest updates about timed entry reservations.”
© 2026 Yakima Herald-Republic (Yakima, Wash.). Visit www.yakima-herald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
