Chinook, Cayuse passes closed

The passes are expected to open around May, but recent years have seen later openings.

By Ray Miller-Still • November 27, 2023 1:30 pm
Photo by Washington State Department of Transportation WSDOT workers clearing snow at Chinook Pass in 2021.
Photo by Washington State Department of Transportation WSDOT workers clearing snow at Chinook Pass in 2021.

The annual closing of SR 410 through Mount Rainier National park has come.

The Washington State Department of Transportation announced the highway’s closure at Chinook Pass on Nov. 10 after a foot of snowfall.

Also closed is SR 123 at Cayuse Pass.

Chinook Pass tends to close before the Thanksgiving holiday, though last year the closure came unseasonably early at the end of October.

The latest it has closed in recent history was on Dec. 15 in 2008.

Both passes tend to open in late May, depending on how much snow is in the pass and other road conditions. However, recent years have seen the pass open up in early June.

For more information about road statuses, head to nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/road-status.htm.