About this permit
A backcountry permit is required year-round in North Cascades National Park for all overnight trips. Ninety-three percent of the park complex is designated as the Stephen Mather Wilderness.
Fees are $10 per person for adults 16 and over, youth 15 and under free, plus a $6 non-refundable reservation fee, charged to apply to the early-access lottery, to reserve during general on-sale, and to get a walk-up permit. Card only, no cash. One permit can carry up to 14 days for a single fee.
The 2026 calendar: early-access lottery applications March 2 to March 13 with a 9:00 pm Pacific deadline, results March 20, awarded reservations March 24 to April 21, and general on-sale April 29 at 7:00 am Pacific. The Wilderness Information Center is open May 15 to October 10 and trips can start between those dates. Reservations must be made at least two days before the start date, permits can be picked up three days ahead, and any permit not collected by 11 am on day one is cancelled.
About 60% of the park's backcountry campsite inventory is reservable in advance; the remainder is walk-up, first-come first-served, issued only the day of or the day before. Beginning in 2025 the park allowed most visitors with advance reservations to obtain permits by email, with the exception that all permits for Cascade River Road trailheads, including Cascade Pass and Boston Basin, must still be picked up in person in Marblemount, and anyone who needs to borrow a bear canister has to come in for it.
Group size is 12 within all trail corridors and camps and in the cross-country zones around Mount Shuksan, Eldorado Peak and Forbidden Peak; 6 for the remainder of the cross-country zones. Those limits include people and stock. Cross-country zones start a mile from designated camps and half a mile from trails, have no maintained camps or trails, and only six of them (Boston Basin, Eldorado, Sulphide Glacier, Price, Triumph and Tapto Lakes) can be reserved in advance.
Food storage is set per camp: some hang, some have a box or a wire, and some require a canister outright, including Sahale Glacier, Boston Basin, Eldorado, Sulphide Glacier, Tapto Lakes, Thunder Basin and Fisher. Canisters are loaned at the Wilderness Information Center in Marblemount and the Glacier Public Service Center. The park's booking system also refuses unrealistic itineraries: Recreation.gov will not let you book sites more than a reasonable day's hike or paddle apart. Long-distance PCT permit holders no longer need a separate overnight permit for Six Mile Camp and Bridge Creek Camp.
The route
Camping is camp-based. Each designated camp has a listed number of sites, a per-site capacity and a food-storage method, and the park's group limit is 12 within all trail corridors and camps, including people and stock, though it notes that terrain means not every camp can take 12.
Beyond the camps are cross-country zones, which the park describes as beginning a mile from designated camps and half a mile from trails, with no maintained camps or trails and travel made very difficult by rugged terrain. The group limit there drops to 6, except in the zones around Mount Shuksan, Eldorado Peak and Forbidden Peak, where it stays 12. Only six cross-country zones can be reserved in advance: Boston Basin, Eldorado, Sulphide Glacier, Price, Triumph and Tapto Lakes. The rest are walk-up only.
Why it matters
North Cascades has the most glaciers of any park in the lower 48 and a fraction of the visitors of its neighbours. The permit system reflects that: cheap, camp-based, with a real walk-up allocation and, since 2025, most permits issued by email rather than in person.
