Planning to visit Mount Rainier National Park in 2024? You’ll likely need a reservation under a new plan released by the National Park Service this week.

In a press release, the NPS announced that it would begin requiring timed-entry reservations for two popular areas of the park beginning later this spring. Beginning on May 24, the park will require reservations for visitors entering the Paradise Corridor through the Nisqually or Stevens Canyon entrances from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.. Beginning on July  visitors entering the Sunrise Corridor via the White River entrance will need to have a reservation as well during the same hours. The programs for both areas will run through September 2. Timed-entry reservations will cost $2 per vehicle in addition to normal park entrance fees, and will be good for a 2-hour window. Visitors with a wilderness permit or camping reservation will not need a timed-entry reservation.

The NPS noted that visitation to Mount Rainier has grown by 40 percent over the past decade, and the new changes were necessary to prevent “overcrowding during the summer and damage to fragile ecosystems.” Rainier will join nine other national parks that have established timed-entry programs, including Arches, Glacier, and Rocky Mountain.

“In recent years, it’s been too common for visitors to sit in idling cars for a couple of hours at the entrance stations and then make laps through the parking lots hoping for an empty parking space,” Superintendent Greg Dudgeon wrote in a press release. “We are testing a system that will spread visitation out throughout the day and season to reduce crowding.”

Bookings for the Paradise Corridor and Sunrise Corridor will open on February 21 and April 1 respectively, both on Recreation.gov.

From 2024