Submitted by Olympia National Forest
Beginning April 21, 2025, Olympic National Forest will transition to cashless collections utilizing only credit or debit cards at offices in Olympia, Quilene, Quinault and Forks. Commercial salal permits will be the only item available for purchase with cash.
Visitors who are only able to pay with cash may purchase some recreation passes from local vendors listed on our website and the forest’s non-profit partner, Discover Your Northwest, who operates bookstores at Forest offices.
Northwest Forest Day-use passes can be purchased, and some campground fees can be paid via credit or debit at self-service stations at the following locations:
- Quinault Rainforest Trailhead
- Outside the Quinault Office
- Outside the Quilcene Office
- Lena Lake Trailhead (Coming Soon)
- Big Creek Campground
- Seal Rock Campground/Day Use Area (Coming Soon)
- Klahowya Campground/Day Use Area
Cash will not be accepted at the campgrounds noted above. Lena Creek and Hamma Hamma Campground fees will be collected at the Lena Lake Trailhead self-service station.
In the Quinault area, Willaby and Falls Creek Campground fees will be collected at the Quinault Office self-service station. These campgrounds are available for reservation prior to arrival at recreation.gov. Self-service payment would only be needed if a site is available day of.
Additionally, the Forest will be implementing a scan and pay option at some recreation sites across the forest. Scan and pay will work in areas with cellular or Wi-Fi connectivity and if visitors already have the recreation.gov app loaded on their phone this scan and pay will work offline as well.
Moving to a cashless system will reduce the amount of time forest staff manage cash and increase their availability to help visitors and manage recreation sites.
Recreation passes and special forest product sales are a critical source of revenue used to improve the experience for visitors of national forests. For example, recreation pass revenue supports the maintenance and operations of these sites along with other upgrades and project work.
For more information about forest passes visit the passes and special forest permits visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/olympic.
