Cashless ways to pay this summer on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest

Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Pacific Northwest Region

Vancouver, Wash., (May 14, 2025)— Beginning May 16, the Gifford Pinchot National Forest will be implementing a Scan and Pay option at many recreation sites across the forest. Visitors will now be able to pay recreation day use fees through the recreation.gov app loaded on a mobile device. Scan and Pay will work in areas with cellular or Wi-Fi connectivity and offline as well, as long as the app is downloaded to the device prior to the loss of service.

Scan and Pay will be available at the following locations:

• Northwest Forest Pass-day use sites/trailheads
  • Cowlitz Valley Ranger District:
    • Woods Creek Watchable Wildlife, Blue Lake ORV Trailhead, Packwood Lake Trailhead, Berry Patch Trailhead.
  • Mt Adams Ranger District:
    • Crest Camp Trailhead, Cultus Creek Trailhead, Indian Heaven Trailhead, Falls Creek Falls Trailhead, Ice Cave Day Use, Thomas Lake Trailhead, Trapper Creek Trailhead, Whistle Punk Day Use.
  • Mount St. Helens Ranger District/National Volcanic Monument:
    • Trail of Two Forests, Ape Cave, Lava Canyon, Bear Meadows, Cascade Peaks, Meta Lake/Miners Car, Norway Pass, Smith Creek Picnic, Windy Ridge, Coldwater Lake Boating and Picnic.
• First Come First Serve Campgrounds: Cultus Creek CG, Forlorn Lakes CG, Government Mineral Springs CG, Lewis River Horse Camp, Mt. Adams Horse Camp, Tillicum CG, Trout Lake Creek CG.
• Mt. Adams Climbing Activity Pass

Visitors can also purchase the Northwest Forest-day use pass and the Mt. Adams Climbing Activity Pass on Recreation.gov ahead of their visit. Fees for first-come, first-serve campgrounds can only be paid via Scan and Pay (or cash) on site at the time of the visit. 

Additionally, automated fee machines, or cashless collections, will be available at Coldwater Science and Learning Center and at Coldwater Lake Picnic and Boating Day Use Site.

The Gifford Pinchot National Forest continues to implement the fee changes approved by the Recreation Advisory Committee from the spring of 2023. This year, that implementation includes the Coldwater Lake Picnic and Boating Day Use Site and Snowgrass Trailhead as new $5/day Northwest Forest Pass Day Use Sites. The $5 fee at Snowgrass Trailhead will go into effect once the new vault toilet and other required amenities are installed, which should occur by end of July 2025.

Introducing a cashless system will offer visitors an easier way to purchase a day use fee, reduce the amount of time needed for forest staff to 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. Recreation passes revenue supports the maintenance and operations of these sites along with other necessary upgrades and project work.

For a list of local pass vendors see: https://usfs.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=7cf8be1a3adc4da090b79fc7ec5aadd4 

For more information about forest passes visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/giffordpinchot/passes 

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