Discover This

The cost of Washington’s annual Discover Pass (see screen capture) went up from $30 to $45 on October 1. The price of a daily pass stayed the same. While this is the first increase since the annual pass debuted in 2011, not surprisingly the 50 percent hike affected sales, at least in the first month. This post has a few thoughts on the increase and Discover Passes in general.

A Discover Pass is a parking pass that provides unlimited drive-in access to state parks and other recreation areas for everyone in a passholder’s vehicle.

According to an article in the Washington State Standard, the number of annual passes sold dropped by 23 percent in October. But not to worry as revenue actually increased due to the higher price according to a state parks source quoted in the article. What seems to be lost here is that fewer passes being sold means fewer people will be out enjoying the parks.

Since the revenue from the passes goes directly toward trail upkeep, facility maintenance, habitat protection, and other preservation, this is a tough tradeoff. Yes, parks and recreation areas belong to all of us and provide the most good when they are being used. However, they require upkeep, and if that gets cut way back, people probably won’t want to visit them as much.

This spring the Washington State legislature dealt with a budget shortfall for the 2025-2027 biennium that was in the billions. I don’t know how much raising the Discover Pass fee helped, but I do know that our state representatives are unlikely to ever go back to paying for state parks out of the general fund when they can opt for user fees instead. Especially when massive tax increases are required to balance the rest of the budget like they were this year.

To state government’s credit when it comes to people and state parks, there are discounted passes for disability, foster families, and seniors with limited income. You don’t need a Discover Pass if you are volunteering at a park or if you arrive by foot, bike, or horseback. If you are willing to wait, you can check out a pass from your local library. For all of us, there are a dozen days every year when no pass is required.

I have been a Discover Pass holder since they first came out. With a half-dozen state parks near Bremerton, I get my money’s worth every year. The pass has space to write in two license plate numbers and is thus good for two vehicles but only one at a time. My main complaint is that I can never remember which car my pass is in. That’s not much of a gripe, but it’s all I have.

One final observation. By renewing the pass in the month after it expires you can get 13 months use out of each annual pass. For example, if it expires at the end of March and you renew it in early April, the new pass will expire at the end of the next April. When renewing online, you can print a temporary pass that’s good for 14 days use—plenty of time for the permanent pass to arrive by mail.