Washington gives you four completely different rides and one hard constraint: two of the best are gated shut half the year. The North Cascades Highway, SR 20, crosses Washington Pass at 5,477 feet and closes every winter between the Ross Dam trailhead at milepost 134 and the Silver Star gate at milepost 171. SR 410 over Chinook Pass at 5,430 feet does the same. Chuckanut Drive, SR 11, is open year round and only 21 miles long. US 101 loops roughly 330 miles around the Olympic Peninsula and never closes either. Plan the season first, then the route.
Why Washington is a scheduling problem before it is a riding problem
The Cascades split the state in half and take 15 feet of snow a winter at the passes, with avalanches that can leave more than 20 feet of debris on the road. That is why SR 20 has a median first opening date of April 21 and a median final closure of November 24 — a seven-month season in a good year, and less in a bad one. The 2026 season was a bad one: the highway opened late after emergency repairs and did not fully reopen until June 14. Chinook Pass ran closer to normal, closing in late October 2025 and reopening May 22, 2026.
The coastal and lowland routes have the opposite problem. They stay open, but they trade elevation for rain, fog and heavy summer tourist traffic. A Washington trip that works usually mixes one pass with one coastal leg. California's Sierra crossings run on the same kind of calendar — see Sonora Pass on SR 108.
Top roads in Washington
| Road | Length | What it is | Season |
|---|---|---|---|
| SR 20, North Cascades Highway | Pass section, Newhalem to Winthrop | Diablo Lake, Rainy Pass at 4,875 ft and Washington Pass at 5,477 ft with a signature hairpin on the east descent | Closed MP 134 to MP 171 in winter; median open April 21 to November 24 |
| SR 11, Chuckanut Drive | 21 miles | Cliff-edge two-lane above Samish Bay through Larrabee State Park; open since 1916 | Year round |
| US 101, Olympic Peninsula loop | About 330 miles | Full circuit of Olympic National Park; rainforest, Lake Crescent and Pacific coast | Year round |
| SR 410, Chinook Scenic Byway | 107 miles total, byway from Enumclaw to Naches | Switchbacks to Chinook Pass at 5,430 ft on the Mount Rainier boundary | Pass segment closed in winter; 2026 reopening was May 22 |
Open the North Cascades Highway crossing in Google Maps — Newhalem to Winthrop over Washington Pass, ready to send to your navigation before you leave the driveway.
SR 20, the North Cascades Highway
The best road in the state and the one with the shortest window. Heading east from Newhalem the highway climbs the Skagit through the dam country — Diablo Lake sits below the overlook in a green that photographs badly and looks fake in person — then works up to Rainy Pass at 4,875 feet and Washington Pass at 5,477 feet.
Washington Pass is the payoff. The highway turns north, crosses the pass under Liberty Bell Mountain, then swings into a long hairpin and begins the descent into eastern Washington. The overlook a short distance off the road looks straight back down at that hairpin and is the single most photographed piece of pavement in the Cascades. From there it is a fast, dry, open run down to Mazama and Winthrop, and the climate change across the pass is abrupt — wet west-side forest on one side, sagebrush and sun on the other.
What to know. Rainy and Washington passes take up to 15 feet of snow a winter and are avalanche-prone, which is why the gate closure runs from milepost 134 to milepost 171 rather than just the summit. Fire closes it too — the Sourdough and Blue Lake fires shut the Newhalem to Rainy Pass section for several weeks in August 2023. There is no fuel between Marblemount and Mazama, which is roughly 70 miles over the top.
SR 410 and Chinook Pass
The Chinook Scenic Byway starts in Enumclaw and runs to Naches, crossing Chinook Pass at 5,430 feet right on the Mount Rainier National Park boundary. It is the more approachable of the two big passes: shorter climb, tighter switchbacks on the Naches Peak side, and Rainier filling the mirror for a good part of it.
Tipsoo Lake sits a few hundred meters from the summit with a picnic area and a loop trail, and the view of Rainier across it is the one everybody stops for. Snow depth at the summit can reach 15 feet, and it is not unusual to ride through cut snow walls in late May and early June. In winter WSDOT gates the highway at Morse Creek, about five miles east of the summit, because of high wind, avalanche danger and limited cell coverage.
Practical note: this is a national park boundary road with park traffic to match. Enumclaw and Naches are the fuel anchors, and the middle 60 miles are forest with essentially nothing on them.
Chuckanut Drive, SR 11
Twenty-one miles from I-5 at Burlington to I-5 in south Bellingham, and the shortest good road in this guide. It opened in 1916 and briefly carried US 99 before the state built an inland bypass through Lake Samish in 1931, which is why a road this narrow exists at all — it was the main highway, and then it was not.
The middle section is what you come for: two lanes carved into the hillside above Samish Bay, tree canopy overhead, water and the San Juans visible through gaps, and Larrabee State Park at the north end of the good part. Shoulders are narrow to nonexistent. Traffic ranges from about 2,300 vehicles a day near Bow Hill Road to 14,000 near Fairhaven, and it spikes with recreation and farm season, so the south end is quiet and the north end is not.
Ride it as a connector rather than a destination — it pairs naturally with a run out to Bellingham or as the last leg of a north-sound day. And treat it as a slow road. It is tight, popular with cyclists, and the cliff side does not forgive an overcooked entry.
The US 101 Olympic loop
About 330 miles around the Olympic Peninsula, and the one route here that works in any month. US 101 covers 365 miles in Washington in total and serves as the main access to Olympic National Park; the loop portion was finished in 1927 and opened with a two-day dedication in August 1931.
Ridden counterclockwise from the Hood Canal side you get Quilcene and the climb around Mount Walker, then Port Angeles, then Lake Crescent — a deep glacial lake the highway hugs for several miles of genuinely good corners. West of there the road turns south through Forks, past the Hoh Rainforest turnoff, and eventually out to the coast before running down to Aberdeen and Hoquiam.
Set expectations correctly. This is not a technical road. It is a long, flowing, frequently wet two-lane through some of the wettest terrain in the lower 48, and the national park's best sections are all on dead-end spur roads off the loop — Hurricane Ridge, the Hoh, Sol Duc. Budget three days if you want to actually see the park, or seven to nine hours if you only want the loop itself. If the trip continues down the coast, we cover SR 1 through Big Sur separately.
Weather, fuel and the things that ruin a day here
Check the passes before you leave. This is the whole game in Washington. WSDOT posts opening and closure dates and real-time pass conditions, and both SR 20 and SR 410 can close on short notice for snow, avalanche control, fire or repairs even inside their normal season.
Fuel. Marblemount to Mazama on SR 20 is about 70 miles with nothing over the top. Enumclaw to Naches on SR 410 is worse in the middle. On the Olympic loop, the west side between Forks and Aberdeen has long thin stretches. Fill at the last real town, not the next one.
Rain and temperature. West-side rain is constant and cold even in summer — our notes on what to change when you are riding wet for hours at a time are written for exactly this — and the drop from a sunny valley to a 5,400-foot pass can be 20 to 25°F. Crossing SR 20 eastbound you often ride out of rain into 90°F sagebrush inside an hour.
Surface. Freeze-thaw and snowplow damage at the passes means patched pavement and gravel pushed into corners early in the season. Chuckanut has a landslide history and rock on the road is normal. West-side roads hold moss and standing water in shaded corners.
Traffic and enforcement. Rainier and Olympic park corridors run heavy from July through Labor Day with RVs and slow-moving vehicles, and passing zones on the pass roads are short. Speed limits drop hard through the small towns, and those towns are where citations get written.
Gear notes for Cascade passes and coast
Two things matter more in Washington than almost anywhere else. The first is temperature swing. Leaving Enumclaw at 85°F and topping Chinook Pass at 55°F moves your tire pressure meaningfully in the wrong direction, and the pass descents are where you need the front tire to be exactly right. Our guide to how a 30-degree pass climb moves your cold pressure covers how far the numbers actually move with temperature, and a valve-cap TPMS sensor reports it while you are climbing rather than at the summit pullout. The second is that cell coverage in the North Cascades and on the Olympic west side is poor to absent, which is exactly why WSDOT lists limited coverage as a closure reason at Morse Creek. Download the map area first and run it on a handlebar riding system display so you are not fishing a dead phone out of a wet jacket. The JADO S6 puts navigation and live pressure on one sunlight-readable screen, records front and rear, and is rated IP69K, which is not a marketing line on a road that rains eight months a year.
FAQ
When does the North Cascades Highway open?
The median first opening date is April 21 and the median final closure is November 24, but it varies a lot year to year. In 2026 emergency repairs delayed it and SR 20 did not fully reopen until June 14. Check WSDOT before you plan around it.
Where exactly does SR 20 close in winter?
Between the Ross Dam trailhead at milepost 134 on the west side and the Silver Star gate at milepost 171 on the east. The rest of SR 20 stays open, so Newhalem and Winthrop are both reachable in winter — just not from each other.
Is Chinook Pass open now?
It runs a summer season only. It closed for the winter in late October 2025 and reopened May 22, 2026, which is typical. In winter the highway is gated at Morse Creek about five miles east of the summit.
What is the best motorcycle road in Washington?
SR 20 over Washington Pass, when it is open. Nothing else in the state combines that elevation, that hairpin and that abrupt a change from wet west-side forest to dry eastern sagebrush.
How long does the Olympic Peninsula loop take?
The loop is about 330 miles and takes seven to nine hours of riding with minimal stops. To actually see the park, budget three days, because Hurricane Ridge, the Hoh Rainforest and Sol Duc are all out-and-back spurs off US 101.
