Which pass do I need near Enumclaw? Park by park

Which pass you need near Enumclaw depends on who runs the land. As of October 2026, the state parks (Nolte, Federation Forest, Flaming Geyser, Kanaskat-Palmer) take a Discover Pass, $45 a year or $10 a day; fee trailheads in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest off SR 410 take a Northwest Forest Pass, $30 a year or $5 a day; and Mount Rainier National Park charges $30 a vehicle for seven days. Pinnacle Peak and the Mud Mountain Dam park list no fee, and a winter Sno-Park needs its own state permit, $25 a day or $50 a season.

None of those four covers for another. The Forest Service says the Discover Pass is "not valid on national forest lands." The Park Service says it "does not cover Mount Rainier National Park." State Parks says it is "not valid at Sno-Parks," and the two Sno-Parks on the way to Crystal Mountain sit on national forest land, where the Forest Service itself requires a state Sno-Park permit in winter. Five agencies manage the places below.

Is parking free at Pinnacle Peak?

King County's page for Pinnacle Peak Park, also called Mount Peak, lists no fee, pass or permit, and the Washington Trails Association gives its parking pass as none. The page stops short of the word free; the parks office is at 206-477-4527. The Discover Pass does not enter into it, because this is county land. This site's Pinnacle Peak trail guide covers the walk.

Does Mud Mountain Dam charge a fee?

The Army Corps of Engineers lists no entrance or parking fee on its pages for the Mud Mountain Dam park; the only charge shown is $50 a day to reserve a large picnic shelter. Visit Rainier, the Mount Rainier tourism site, says there are no fees, and the trails association lists none. The Corps' 2026 schedule has the park open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and closed on weekends from September 20 through December 31, and closed on seven holidays, among them Columbus Day, which falls on October 12 in 2026. The recreation line is 206-316-3007, and the Mud Mountain Dam story has the rest.

Which parks near Enumclaw need a Discover Pass?

Nolte, Federation Forest, Flaming Geyser and Kanaskat-Palmer all do. Each park's page lists the pass under fees, and State Parks' Discover Pass page says one is required to park at state parks and on recreation land run by the departments of Natural Resources and Fish and Wildlife. The $45 annual price is set in state law, RCW 79A.80.020, effective October 1, 2025; a day is $10. One pass can cover two vehicles, one at a time, and nobody arriving on foot, bicycle or horse needs one. The fine for parking without it is $99 under RCW 79A.80.080, or $59 for a driver who shows the court proof of purchase within 15 days.

It is sold at discoverpass.wa.gov, by phone at 866-320-9933, with a vehicle license renewal, and by hunting and fishing license dealers, who carry the annual pass only. Online, phone and dealer sales carry transaction fees, the Discover Pass site says; a license renewal and a park pay station do not. The Department of Fish and Wildlife's dealer search returns one in Enumclaw, listed as Work-Sports & Outdoors, 840 Roosevelt Avenue. State Parks' Discover Pass page lists automated pay stations at Federation Forest, Flaming Geyser and Kanaskat-Palmer, though Flaming Geyser's own park page does not show one. Nolte is not on the list, and its page shows none.

The Nolte State Park loop, Flaming Geyser State Park and Kanaskat-Palmer, described in this site's Green River Gorge guide, post hours of 8 a.m. to dusk all year. Federation Forest State Park is the one to check: its page says it closes from October 1 through April 30, while the agency's winter schedule has day use ending October 15, 2026. Call 253-735-8839 first.

The last Discover Pass free days of 2026 are October 10 and November 11. State Parks issued the year's list on November 12, 2025; look for the 2027 dates about then.

Which trailheads east of Enumclaw need a Northwest Forest Pass?

Those the Forest Service lists as fee sites, which is not all of them. Off SR 410, the agency's regional list of day-use fee sites, last updated September 15, 2026, names Skookum Flats North, Ranger Creek, Camp Sheppard (the start for Snoquera Falls), Greenwater (for Greenwater Lakes), Corral Pass (for Noble Knob) and Suntop, among others. Each site page opened gives the same price, $5 per vehicle per day or $30 for the annual Northwest Forest Pass, and the Forest Service honors the federal America the Beautiful pass at the same sites. The forest says signs are posted where fees apply.

No fee machine is listed at these trailheads. Display a pass, buy a digital day pass on Recreation.gov, or use Scan and Pay in the Recreation.gov app, which the forest says works without cell service if downloaded first. In town, the Forest Service's vendor map, updated September 2, 2026, lists Enumclaw Ski and Mountain, 240 Roosevelt Avenue East, for the day pass and the annual. The Forest Service's Enumclaw office, on the same street at number 450, is open Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. as of October 2026, shut for lunch from noon to 1, and its page sends pass questions to North Bend.

The last Forest Service fee-free days of 2026 are October 27 and November 11. A Christmas tree from the same forest takes a separate $10 permit.

What does Mount Rainier cost at White River and Sunrise?

It costs $30 per private vehicle for seven days, paid by card at the White River Entrance; the park takes no cash. A motorcycle is $25, a walker or cyclist aged 16 or older $15, and a Mount Rainier annual pass, which the page lists as available to US citizens and residents, $55. The park's fees page, last updated September 1, 2026, lists the America the Beautiful annual pass at two prices: a Resident Annual Pass for "US citizens and residents" at $80 and a Non-Resident Annual Pass for "Non-US residents" at $250. The Park Service's national pass page, last updated January 5, 2026, shows the same prices and names 11 parks that charge nonresidents aged 16 and older a $100 fee; Mount Rainier is not among them.

No timed-entry reservation is required in the park, its page says. The last free entrance days of 2026, offered to US citizens and residents by the page's wording, are October 27 and November 11.

As of the park's road update of October 8, 2026, Sunrise Road was closed to vehicles because of the Grand Park 2 and Wonderland Complex fires (for the rest of the 2026 season, by the park's alert of September 24), and White River Road was scheduled to close on October 26, a date the park said might change. The Enumclaw to Sunrise guide has the drive.

When do you need a Sno-Park permit near Crystal Mountain?

In winter, at any lot designated a Sno-Park; no other pass replaces it. Two lie on the way to the ski area, both ungroomed and non-motorized: Sun Top, with 20 spaces, up Forest Road 73, and Silver Springs, with 15, just off Crystal Mountain Boulevard, which State Parks puts 30 miles east of Enumclaw. State Parks' Sno-Park permit page prices a day permit at $25 and a seasonal one at $50, with $3 more at a retail counter, on sale from November 1 through April 30. The one vendor State Parks lists on this highway is Wapiti Outdoors, 58414 SR 410 East. State Parks' pages date the season differently, but its vendor page gives the working rule: permits are required when Sno-Park signs are posted, and the signs go up and come down with the winter season.

Skiing at Crystal Mountain is a separate question: the resort sets its own parking rules, and this site's Enumclaw to Crystal Mountain guide reports weekend and holiday reservations in the winter of 2025 to 2026. Check with the resort for the current season.

Do you need both a Discover Pass and a Northwest Forest Pass?

Only if you park on both kinds of land. The Discover Pass stops at the national forest boundary, and the Northwest Forest Pass is, by the Forest Service's description, honored at Forest Service fee sites in Washington and Oregon. A national park pass works at a Forest Service trailhead only if it is the interagency America the Beautiful pass; the $55 Mount Rainier annual pass is an entrance pass for that park.

A Discover Pass beats day passes from the fifth state park visit in a year, and a Northwest Forest Pass equals six trailhead days. The $80 Resident Annual Pass costs $5 less than a Mount Rainier annual pass plus a Northwest Forest Pass. A household whose walks are Pinnacle Peak and the dam is asked for none of them.

Why does one town need so many passes?

Because the land around Enumclaw is split among a county, a state and three federal agencies, each paying for its parks differently. King County Parks says most of its money comes from a property tax levy that voters approved in August 2025. The Discover Pass dates to a 2011 act of the Legislature. The Forest Service says Sno-Park permit money pays for plowing the access roads and grooming the trails, which puts a state permit on federal ground.

Pinnacle Peak shows how thin the lines are. The King County Council's record is that the property passed from the state Department of Natural Resources to King County Parks in 2000, and Natural Resources recreation land is Discover Pass territory. The hill changed hands 11 years before the pass existed.

Before you go

Check that the place is open: Federation Forest's closing date, the Corps' weekday-only gate, the park's road status page, whether Chinook Pass has closed for the winter, and the national forest's alerts page for fire and road closures. Check whether the day is free; November 11, 2026, is on all three calendars. For Pinnacle Peak's south lot, SE Mud Mountain Road is closed between SR 410 and 248th Avenue SE for a bridge replacement, with a signed detour; King County plans to reopen it in late fall 2026. Every price here comes from the agency that sets it, and each posts changes on its page.