The first time Jessica Beauchemin hiked South Sister, she saw two guys leaving as she pulled into the trailhead parking lot.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want to go up there today,鈥� she recalled them saying. 鈥淚t鈥檚 gonna snow.鈥�
This was in 2006. It was October 鈥� very late in the season to try to summit the 10,358-foot mountain in the Central Oregon Cascades 鈥� but Beauchemin was determined to ascend a glaciated peak in order to qualify for membership in the Mazamas mountaineering group.
鈥淎nd I said, 鈥極K, thank you,鈥欌�� said Beauchemin, a personal trainer who lives in Bend. 鈥淚n the back of my mind, [I was] thinking if the weather turns I鈥檒l just turn around and go home. There鈥檚 no reason to push it.鈥�
To her memory, she didn鈥檛 encounter a single other person throughout the 12-mile hike. At the top, tiny snow flurries swirled around her like in a snowglobe.
鈥淭o be at 10,000 feet by myself in that magical snow flurry was one of the pinnacles of my hiking experiences in Oregon,鈥� Beauchemin said.
A crowdless hike up South Sister these days is rare, even in October. A weekend visit to the climber鈥檚 trail, which starts at the Devils Lake trailhead, usually features cars parked shoulder-to-shoulder and bumper-to-bumper around the circular parking lot. Groups of hikers and trail runners have to squeeze past each other in some spots.
The crush on popular trails like South Sister in Central Oregon reached a tipping point a few years back. Damage associated with overcrowding had gotten so bad that the U.S. Forest Service decided 鈥� and many recreationists agreed 鈥� an intervention was needed.
鈥淭he amount of use that was occurring was off the charts,鈥� said Jean Nelson-Dean, public affairs officer for the Deschutes National Forest. 鈥淎nd so, fundamentally, if folks are going to have a wilderness experience, there still needs to be a wilderness to experience.鈥�
Starting this weekend, the agency is across the Three Sisters, Mount 老夫子传媒 and Mount Washington wilderness areas. The plan also limits the number of overnight stays across routes from all 79 trailheads in those wildernesses.
That means hikers and campers will likely see fewer people on the trail this summer than have become the norm. The South Sister climber鈥檚 trail will only permit 100 hikers a day now, not counting overnight campers.
While that may delight many a seasoned solitude-seeker, others worry that requiring permits could deter people out of wilderness exploration in the first place.
鈥淚 feel very strongly that there is currently a divide as to who has access to the outdoors,鈥� Beauchemin said. 鈥淎nd this is only going to serve to really entrench that divide.鈥�
Beauty is a beast
Part of what draws people to Central Oregon is how easy it can be to get from the driveway, car-camping site or hotel parking lot to wilderness areas that feel very remote.
鈥淎nd with social media, people have really gravitated toward places that are either the most beautiful or the most accessible,鈥� said Matt Reeder, who teaches French at Portland Community College and has authored several guide books for hiking in Oregon.
鈥淭he places that are both have become particularly very, very, very popular.鈥�
Climbing South Sister, for example, or trekking to the mesmerizing No Name Lake on Broken Top are both physically taxing hikes but well within reach for many people. Several hikers who spoke with OPB related moments of serenity in the Central Cascades that had profound impacts on their lives.
Shanna Anderson is an office manager in Springfield. She hiked a little when she was growing up, but didn鈥檛 initially pursue it as an adult.
鈥淚 saw these ultra-athletes and these really macho people out in the wilderness 鈥� these people that lived that lifestyle 鈥� and I just didn鈥檛 connect with them,鈥� Anderson said. 鈥淚t just didn鈥檛 seem real for me.鈥�
Anderson later found inspiration from popular Oregon hiking groups on Facebook like . The page moderators posted about outdoor adventures in a way that felt accessible for her.
After building some courage on day hikes, she and her husband planned a 24-mile loop hike around Three-Fingered Jack with 鈥渇ive-dollar backpacks from the 鈥�70s.鈥�
鈥淚t was grueling. It was hard, but I just loved every second of it,鈥� Anderson said. 鈥淭o this day, that鈥檚 probably one of my favorite backpacking trips I鈥檝e ever been on. I was just like, 鈥榃ow, I鈥檓 doing it. I鈥檓 out here. I鈥檓 roughing it.鈥欌��
And it鈥檚 partly the job of public land agencies to encourage those experiences. However, the recreation boom in Central Oregon has been too much for many of these fragile natural areas to handle, according to the Forest Service.
The Wilderness Act of 1964 requires land managers to preserve wilderness areas and the qualities that make them wild and to promote public access. Trying to strike a balance between those two priorities presents a complex set of challenges, especially given the seemingly boundless uptick in visitors.
Nelson-Dean said visits to the Deschutes National Forest have jumped from 1.8 million in 2013 to 4.5 million last year 鈥� that鈥檚 comparable to peak visitation at Rocky Mountain National Park.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what else they can do besides implement a permit system,鈥� Reeder said. 鈥淚 just don鈥檛 know what the alternatives are. And if the alternatives existed, I鈥檓 not sure if they鈥檙e even manageable or even feasible.鈥�
Raising the bar
Permits and quotas for hiking and camping are nothing new. In fact, two trails now covered by the Central Cascades Wilderness Permit system 鈥� Pamelia Lake and Obsidian 鈥� have had a limited entry since the 1990s.
What makes this new system unique is the scale. It covers some 450,000 acres, making it one of the largest wilderness conservation efforts by way of crowd control in the nation, .
鈥淚f people have never been exposed to these areas in the first place, now [the permit] almost acts as a barrier to potentially getting out there,鈥� said Zavi Borja, programs coordinator for V谩manos Outside, a group seeking to connect Latinx families to the Central Oregon outdoors.
That鈥檚 on top of existing barriers to the wilderness like , transportation, physical , local knowledge and outdoor education.
Permits are available online at , over the phone, or at Forest Service offices on the Willamette and Deschutes national forests. The Forest Service is also making a small number of permits available at local libraries.
But securing a permit is still tough, even for those well-versed in public lands bureaucracy.
鈥淚 have a lot of positionalities myself,鈥� said Borja, who grew up in Madras and now lives in Bend. 鈥淚 was born here. I went through the education system. I have a degree, right? But [the system is] tough, man, it鈥檚 not easy.鈥�
Borja added that Latinx families, in particular, may be wary of handing over personal information to a federal agency just to take a hike.
The wilderness hype machine
The Forest Service released a select number of permits for the full season 鈥� which runs from Memorial Day weekend through the end of September 鈥� at 7 a.m. on a Tuesday in early April.
鈥淚t was an organizational challenge between myself and several friends,鈥� said Anderson, from Springfield. 鈥淲e all chatted for months ahead of time and kind of jokingly said we need an Excel spreadsheet.鈥�
The agency said that the initial dump was intended for planning types who wanted to lock in spots on some of the most popular trails, but it quickly turned into Black Friday.
Nelson-Dean said about half the traffic that day on 鈥� which allows people to book reservations at more than 100,000 trails, campsites and cabins nationwide 鈥� was for Central Cascades Wilderness Permits.
鈥淎 lot of the most popular ones were gone in about 30 minutes,鈥� Nelson-Dean said. 鈥淲hat followed was a little bit of panic, people just kind of grabbing whatever they could get and not really thinking about what roads would be open, weather conditions and those kinds of things.鈥�
It鈥檚 the same force that drives streetwear aficionados to wait hours in line or online to buy nail clippers stamped with the logo. , whether they鈥檙e worth it or not.
For example, people gobbled up available permits for Green Lakes west of Bend, even in late May and early June when it鈥檚 still blanketed with snow.
Nelson-Dean said people likely bought permits because they thought they couldn鈥檛 get one later when, in fact, the Forest Service makes new permits available daily. That鈥檚 for all 19 trails in the system, including 80 new Green Lakes permits every morning.
鈥淲e haven鈥檛 tried to make these exclusive by any means,鈥� Nelson-Dean said.
The agency stepped in to inform people what they were actually buying and, in some cases, canceled reservations.
Anderson said she fears people will treat permits like tickets to an event and go regardless of conditions at the trails themselves.
Waiting and seeing
The Forest Service鈥檚 stated intention is to spread use out over time and space, encouraging people to explore more trails in the three wilderness areas and go on more weekdays if they can.
Despite public announcements, fliers at trailheads, news articles and a several-year buildup, there will undoubtedly be people who show up at popular spots permit-less and looking to hike.
鈥淚 hope that it spurs people if they can鈥檛 get a permit for a place, to not get angry and then be mad and try to go hike a place anyway,鈥� said Reeder, from Portland. 鈥淭here are plenty of phenomenally beautiful hikes in this region that don鈥檛 require a permit for a day hike.鈥�
Trail volunteers and wilderness rangers will be out and about trying to help people navigate the new permit system. There is a $200-plus fine for violations, but Nelson-Dean said the agency will focus on education and engagement over enforcement in this first year.
鈥淥ur goal is to get people to understand the permit system, to do the right thing, to still enjoy wilderness,鈥� Nelson-Dean said. 鈥淲hen we started this, the goal was to provide as much wilderness access as possible to people today while still maintaining access for those future generations.鈥�
Many hikers have voiced frustration that fees attached to the permits will not go toward enforcing parking, littering or other rules. The $1 day-use and $6 overnight fees will pay solely for the service.
One thing that is clear, though, is that limiting crowds will not lessen demand. In fact, it may only fuel it. Just ask anyone who鈥檚 hiked in the access-limited in Washington鈥檚 Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area west of Leavenworth. Or anyone who scored some .
Beauchemin, from Bend, has climbed South Sister several times since that first solo experience in 2006. She stopped going in recent years because it鈥檚 gotten too busy.
鈥淚 can leave it to the people who haven鈥檛 done it yet,鈥� Beauchemin said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely one of the iconic places to see in Oregon. I think everybody who lives here and visits here should go at least check out some of it, even if you don鈥檛 summit.鈥�
Beauchemin said she agrees with the Forest Service鈥檚 goal to preserve places like the South Sister climber鈥檚 trail, but she doesn鈥檛 think a permit system is the way to get there. She鈥檇 rather see more investment into mentorship for new hikers and campers, or even just parking enforcement.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think people should be scared away from going outside,鈥� Beauchemin said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to keep coming 鈥� with a permit or not."
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