Washington State
(except Yakama Nation)
From the 50 State Visitor Guide :
Rev. Code Wash. 2021 §4.24.550, §§9A.44.128 through 9A.44.145.
Registration Triggers and Deadlines:
Initial registration for permanent residents, students, and in-state workers is 3 business days from arrival; updates within 3 business days. §9A.44.130(4).
Visitors who intend to reside or be present in the state for 10 days or more must register with county sheriff within 3 business days of arrival. §9A.44.130(4)(a)(iv).
Transient registrants must re-register weekly, and report any movement to a new county for 24 hours or more within 3 business days. §9A.44.130(4).
Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:
Residence restriction: Certain L2 and L3 offenders on supervision may not reside within 880 ft. of a school. §9.94A.030(6)
Procedure available for removal from registry after departure
Duration & updates:
10 years to life. Updates: L2&3 – 90 days; L1 – Annually. §9A.44.140.
9 days in Washington State: August 2026
Washington is one of the states that say that visitors who intend to reside or be present for 10 days or more must register within three business days of arrival. Most of the other states that have this “3 if 10” rule also have a 30 day limit per calendar year … but Washington does not. So that’s one less thing for you to worry about on your cross-country trip.
Also note that Washington’s few residency restrictions only apply to “L2 and L3 offenders on supervision.” If you’re able to travel cross country freely you obviously are no longer on supervision so this doesn’t apply to you.
However, this is a good place to point out that, as with so many other states, the wording says “10 days or more.” In other words, the 10th day triggers your obligation to register, so what you really get is nine days, not ten, and as I have said many other times, you have to assume that partial days count.
In August 2026 I didn’t set out intentionally to test the limits of Washington’s hospitality. I was planning a Pacific Northwest road trip and wanted to go further north and west than I had on my previous trip 3 years earlier. I wanted to stop in Seattle, where I’d never been, and I wanted to visit a WA State friend for a day. All together that came to nine days.
Partial Day 1 (Sunday) I entered from Idaho. I had no campsite reservation. Instead I drove up SR 31 looking for Crescent Lake Campground, which was on my Rand McNally map and looked to be the closest place to British Columbia I’d be sleeping on this trip. It was, too – only about 1/2 mile from the border. But although the campground is open and I camped there, there are no directional signs to it at all. I only found it kinda accidentally when I was about to give up, and had the whole place to myself.
Day 2 – I visited Colville Confederated Tribes – see Washington State’s Native Nations below.
North Cascade Nat. Park & Rec. Area Complex
Day 3 – This may not be the most famous national park, but it’s big, and sits within a complex that includes two national recreation areas organized around dams and reservoirs, as well as surrounding national forests. Most of it is protected wilderness but all the recreation and points of interest are along the North Cascades Highway (SR 20), so this is a park complex you can drive through in a day.
My stops included: Happy Creek Forest Trail, Ross Lake and Diablo Lake Overlooks, and Gorge Creek Falls. At the end of that day I was surprised to find the campgrounds in Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie Nat. Forest pretty crowded for a weeknight, so when I found a site that I could have for two nights I grabbed it. I wanted to know where I was coming back to on Day 4.
International Peace Arch – Blaine, WA
Day 4 – See separate blog entry in my Flirting With Canada Series.
Whale Watching in San Juan Islands National Monument
Day 5 – Having had a satisfying and Canada-flirting whale watching tour in New Brunswick only one month earlier (see separate blog entry), I wasn’t looking for another one now, but the easiest way to tour San Juan Islands National Monument is on a whale watching boat. True, there is a ferry that makes three island stops and then returns to Bellingham, but that’s, like, once per day - - so it doesn’t work as an on-off tourist trolley.
This whale watching tour was different again from either of the ones in Maine. Most importantly, there’s been a lot of research and monitoring of Pacific whales, to the point where most of the whale pods are known and numbered, and pod members all have names. Plus, there is a regional association of tour boats that are sharing information about where all the pods are on any given day.
This was an all-day tour, from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm, and included an all you can eat lasagna lunch. Our tour boat’s crew knew right where we were going and who we were there to see – Orca Pod T-19, which consists of an elderly mom and her two adult sons. We joined several other boats and “followed the pod” for over an hour. The pod would breach several times, then go down to hunt for about 5 minutes, then come back up again, often right where the crew predicted. It was a good way to get a lot of photos even with my old iPhone.
All this happened as we toured San Juan Islands Nat. Mon. We also saw great stuff besides the whales – see photos.
Seattle
Seattle is a great city that just happens to be in a state that gives you nine days and has no restrictions at all if you are off supervision. That means you can visit any attraction or conduct your business and have no concern about mistakenly making a wrong turn. On Day 6 I spent an afternoon in Seattle, and that was only just enough time to see a few highlights. Those highlights were:
Space Needle View from the Top
Chihuly Garden & Glass, which is next door to the Space Needle
Jimi Hendrix Statue – Why are monuments to pop icons always a disappointment? (see Kurt Cobain below. See also The Everly Brothers in Central City, KY).
One thing to know about Olympic National Park is that there’s no E Z tourist drive through it. You have to use U.S. 101 (Pacific Coast Highway) to circle around the park and use several access roads that extend like the spokes of a wheel into the park’s attractions like Hurricane Ridge, Sol Duc Hot Springs (and waterfall), Hoh Rainforest and Quinault Rainforest.
Day 7 of my August 2026 road trip I didn’t have enough time to drive all the way around Olympic Nat. Park but I did go someplace I had skipped in 2023, Hurricane Ridge. Just like everything else at Olympic, it’s great.
Wow the rainforests are spectacular! You have to be willing to get out of your car and at least walk the nature trails to see them, but if you do you’ll never forget it. Since I was traveling south along the Pacific seacoast, these rainforests became the first of about a week’s worth of majestic giant trees and forests.
Altogether in 2023 it took me 1 1/2 days to drive each of the spokes into Olympic (except Hurricane Ridge) and see it all. The second day took me to my very first view of the Pacific Ocean at Ruby Beach (“Ocean in View – O the Joy!”). Continuing south on the Coast Highway I tried to stop at as many ocean viewpoints as possible before the highway turned inland, skirting the Quinault Reservation on my way to Olympic’s last stop for me, Quinault Rainforest.
There are several Indian reservations on the Olympic peninsula but like many elsewhere they are located primarily off the main roads, the people there are not interested in being your tourist attraction and they generally turn a cold shoulder to the Pacific Coast Highway.
Small Town Notes
Aberdeen, Hoquiam and the Kurt Cobain Memorial – On the morning of Day 8 I had some extra time. Although I want to see the Pacific Ocean, I only got as far west on SR 8 as Aberdeen and Hoquiam. Notes: Crappy town, one-way pair system from hell, no oil changes on Sunday, and the scenic view ain’t scenic. No wonder Kurt Cobain died of a drug overdose.
Then there’s the Kurt Cobain Memorial. I know we’re talking about Grunge here, but why do these pop culture memorials always suck?
That afternoon I visited a good friend, staying over at their house that evening.
Regional Fruit: Bing Cherries
As you travel through Washington State you’ll see gift shop displays for cherry jams, candy bars, taffies, pancake mixes and syrups. I saw plenty of it at the Seattle Public Market. Most native people of the region have also adopted the cherry as their tribal fruit. The only trouble with that is that Bing Cherries are not native to the region.
Mount Rainier (Tahoma) National Park
As noted above, you get 9 days in Washington State. My plan for my Day 9 was to visit the Yakama Nation (see separate blog entry coming soon) before jumping over the state line into Oregon. From my friend’s house that meant driving through Mt. Rainier National Park. How bad can that be?
Mount Rainier is, of course, a large and majestic volcano which is called Tahoma by the native people of the region (from which the city of Tacoma derives its name). I was pleased to see that – unlike Glacier National Park – Tahoma still has glaciers near its peak.
In 2023 I traveled through this park from east to west, first viewing the volcano from the north at Sunrise Visitor Center, then following the main park road around the south to take in the view at Paradise Inn. As with most national parks, there’s more to Tahoma than just the mountain. I stopped to take a look at Box Canyon, Christine Falls and to walk the Trail of the Shadows.
All this took most of the day but still left enough time to hurry over to the east side of the Olympic Peninsula to camp close to my next destination.
Washington State’s Native Nations
Colville Confederated Tribes
Day 2 – Colville Confederated Tribes are home to something very famous, the Grand Coulee Dam. When I passed through the reservation on SR 155 it’s the first thing I came to and it is impressive. However, if you think the Tribes are benefitting from this dam, you can think again. The dam itself, and the anglo employee towns of Coulee Dam and Electric City are all just off the reservation.
The principle tribal town is Nespelem. It is a typically poor, but has the distinction of being Chief Joseph’s final home after holding out against invaders as long as possible. There is a memorial to him, but strangely, it’s at a small rest area and as you can see in the photo, the graffiti covered bathrooms are right behind his statue.
Because this reservation lies east of the Cascades, the agricultural land looks pretty poor. But from Nespelem to Omak are forested mountains. The towns of Omak and Okanogan are just off-reservation but appear to be tribally influenced.
Tulalip Nation – Welcome to the Suburbs!
Day 6 – The Tulalip Nation is a former tribal fishing village that has maintained its cultural traditions even as it has become a prosperous suburb just 25 miles north of Seattle. The reservation is the size of a large suburban township, which is exactly what it functions as. Not only has the tribe inherited great waterfront property, but they also have what every suburban township wants – their own exit on I-5.
The casino is strategically located right at the exit. Behind that, the Tulalip Nation’s fine new suburban-style high school sits on a long straight road, along which every utility pole holds banners celebrating the Class of 2026. There I saw all those bright young graduates dressed for their senior photos – most wearing native feathers or garments to show, not just their school pride, but their national pride. Wouldn’t it be great to have a senior photo like that? I’d be showing it to everybody!
Location, location, location. Unlike so many other reservations, if those young graduates wish to stay with their tribe they still have their pick of the region’s colleges and universities, then move on to some tech job in Seattle. All the while, when they return home it’s to their own traditions, maybe getting together on weekends to build totem poles or something. Anyway, that’s my fantasy for them. And even if opportunity calls those young graduates far away, they know they can always return to a tribal home they can really be proud of.
Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe (The Strong People)
From the display board at the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Campus:
At the time of european arrival, around 1790, the S’Klallam tribe were one people whose territory stretched from the northern Olympic Peninsula to western Whidbey Island, Vancouver Island and the San Juan Islands.
Today the Strong People are comprised of four tribes: the Jamestown S’Klallam, Port Gamble S’Klallam, Lower Elwha S’Klallam, and S’Klallam First Nation in Beecher Bay, Canada.
After the Jamestown Tribe regained federal recognition as a sovereign nation in 1981, we purchased land at the head of Sequim Bay to establish our Tribal government campus. Since then, the campus and Tribal enterprises have grown steadily to what you see today. See photos.
Yakama Nation
See separate blog entry coming soon. Why am I doing that? Because as you will see, the Yakama Nation says it’s definitely NOT part of Washington State. As usual, I’m taking their side.
Bruce Hossfield, Atwo Zee Registered Traveler
