Complete Guide to Backpacking Elopements

This is the nice & easy part, where it's all trail ideas and dreams! The sky is your limit here, and finding a ton of new awesome places to go backpack with your partner is a fantastic side effect.

Obviously, there are far too many backpacking trails in the whole Pacific Northwest than one person could hope to hike in a lifetime. While we definitely can't list them all, a couple of amazing backpacking routes are:
The Enchantments
The Pacific Crest Trail
The Wonderland Trail
The Ozette Triangle
Eagle Cap Wilderness
Goat Rocks Wilderness

While all of these trails are beautiful, keep in mind that not all of these would be great elopement locations, given the difficulty of getting permits for some of them, like the Wonderland Trail and the Enchantments, for instance. Additionally, these are gonna be the busiest routes in terms of trail useage. But! All these trails can give you a great idea of what kinds of scenery is available in Washington for backpacking and get the ideas flowing! What kind of scenery speaks to you? What's an area you & your partner have always wanted an excuse to explore? When you picture your perfect elopement in your head, what does the landscape look like?

This will really depend on the length of the trail you end up choosing, but in general: most backpacking elopements tend to last for 2 days.

On the first day, we'll meet up, usually in the morning hours, hike in the trail together until we get to camp, set up camp, and relax for a bit, with time for any activities you want to do, like checking out a nearby lake, going for a swim, making dinner.

Then, once sunset rolls around, you can do your first look & some portraits, and it's time for your elopement ceremony! Afterwards, there's some more snacks, maybe taking some star photos if weather allows, and then heading to bed, and waking up for the alpenglow sunrise the next morning.

For the sunrise on the second day, you can take some additional portraits in your wedding attire, perhaps in a different spot or type of scenery, or if you're feeling cozy, maybe just some candids of you in your camp clothes, enjoying coffee together and admiring the scenery.

After the morning on the second day, typically we pack up camp and start our hike out, and are back to the trailhead sometime in the afternoon or evening, depending on the trail. Usually it ends up being about a 24-30hr timeframe, from car to car.

(As an alternative, you can choose to have your elopement ceremony on the morning of the second day, if you prefer, which would mean that sunset on the first day is mostly portrait time and hang out time for any other activities you'd like to do, and the second day is your ceremony!)

We have a whole entirely separate post all about elopement activity ideas just for this occasion (which you should definitely go check out!) but to summarize it briefly: The best way to create a wedding or an elopement day that really feels like it's reflective of you & your partner and your personalities is to incorporate activities y'all actually enjoy doing together on your wedding day.

Of course, backpacking will be a big part of the experience, but this is your chance to get creative and bring it to the next level of fun and personalization. Bring card games, your partner's favorite desert, listen to your favorite music, go paddleboarding, play a game of chess or set aside some time to fly fish, knit, bird watch, identify wildflowers, whatever it is that you would be doing with your partner on a lovely, all day date? Make it part of your elopement! It's so fun, and it pays off in spades.

It's also a great tip if you're feeling nervous about being photographed. You'll feel comfortable and relaxed, because you'll be doing things you already like to do, with your favorite person, in a beautiful place, on your wedding day. What could be better?

We've had the absolute delight of capturing several backpacking elopements over the years here in Washington and a few of our favorites are this beautiful alpine lake elopement in the North Cascades, this snow camp elopement in the early spring in the North Cascades.

Some of our favorite trails are just outside the eastern park boundary of the North Cascades National Park, home to some of the most beautiful, most quiet and accessible pieces of backcountry in the lower 48 (in my humble opinion, anyway!). When we want quiet and stunning views, we always pack up the car, the dogs, and head out towards Mazama.

We also really, really love backpacking in the Olympic Mountains. Lots of folks come to Olympic National Park for the dramatic coast and epic rainforest, but skip the mountains. But the Olympic Mountains are my personal favorite place to go backpacking in the entire state! Most of the trails are less intense than those in the Cascade range and make for a wonderful intro to backpacking.

Where the rubber meets the road, my friends! Or where the hiking boots meet the trail, in this case. This phase is all about getting your research cap on and turning those ideas into concrete options and making decisions. This is also when most couples are reaching out to find a photographer, because a great photographer with experience in backpacking elopements is going to be an incredible resource for you, and having a photographer already on your team will make this phase (and the next one) way, way easier! But, if you'd like to brave this phase on your own and find a photographer later, that's totally doable too.

Okay this is where I get really nerdy. I love researching trails. I spend far too much time looking at topographic maps, google earth satellite images, and trail reports for a sane and normal person. For researching trails, your photographer is going to be the best resource for you. Speaking as a photographer here, we'll absolutely be able to help you find an incredible spot for your backpacking elopement, even if you've never visited the area before. If you'd like to dip your toe into the world of trail research, or perhaps you're an avid backpacker and like the challenge of finding your elopement spot on your own, my recommendations are to check out:
WTA.org - the washington trail association. They have so many detailed itinerary reports from less popular and overlooked routes that other websites don't have. You will find so many hidden gems on here.
alltrails.com - the classic, you've probably heard of by now. If you haven't, welcome, prepare to meet your new hobby: scrolling through endless photos of numerous jawdropping trails and saving all of them to an ever-growing list called "To Hike Someday Before I Die". No? Just me? In seriousness, alltrails is a great resource for finding backpacking routes. Their filters work well and their reviews are often numerous, with lots of photos, all of which can be very helpful.
physical guide books - Head on over to your local REI or small bookstore and pick up some paper maps and a guidebook! There are several really great ones, and they tend to feature routes that are not as popular, in places you might have forgotten to look. My personal favorite is "Backpacking Washington: Overnight and Multiday Routes".

This is where taking all those gorgeous beautiful location options and narrowing them down begins. You'll want to consider what time of year you'll be eloping, or if you don't have a date in mind, then you'll want to align your plans with when your first choice trails are accessible. For hiking trails in Washington, late June through mid October is when just about everything will be accessible. Some areas might not be snow free until late July, so do your research and look into the conditions of the trail during the time of year you intend to visit! Pay attention to the trail reports, they'll be your best friends here. Are you okay with some snow, even looking forward to it? Are the mosquitoes infamous in June? Is the trail typically blocked by snow until late July? Does the trail close for wildlife regularly? Does the place get absolutely swamped by college kids on spring break? Is trailhead parking on the weekend practically impossible?

When it comes to trail traffic, we tend to prioritize solitude, serenity, and being away from bustle of modern life when we backpack, and we carry those priorities into the locations we recommend for our couples' elopements too. Our best tips for avoiding crowds are:

be wary of very popular backpacking destinations. This one is pretty self explanatory, but if you DO fall in love with a very popular trail, just keep your expectations of privacy and serenity realistic. The trail is not reserved for your use, and folks will absolutely stop by, congratulate you, ask questions, and generally be charmingly flabbergasted to see a couple getting married in the backcountry. If lots of friendly exchanges with strangers sounds like fun to you, then great! If that sounds mortifying and exhausting, you should probably pick another trail.

elope on a weekday or in the middle of the week to avoid the weekend warrior rush and give yourself the best chance at securing the best campsites.

keep an open mind about the weather & time of year. Foggy and rainy days tend to keep the crowds away in the PNW. Be upfront with your priorities: Is sunny weather or having the trail to yourself more important to you? If you really value great weather over solitude, than the busier summer months will still be your best choice. If you value privacy over bluebird skies, then planning your elopement for the fall, spring, or even winter will be your best choice.

Consider who you'd like to join you on your backpacking elopement.
The pros of inviting guests along for your backpacking elopement:
1) You'll have additional hands to help carry the additional stuff! Packing your wedding attire & supplies into your already full pack can be a challenge when you're already packing for an overnight in the backcountry, so having an extra person or two who can help distribute the extra load of flowers, dresses, suits, snacks, etc. is super handy.
2) It can be really valuable to have a super supportive friend or family member or two present to keep you hyped up, help with any logistics, and just be an emotional cheerleader and enjoy the process with you.
3) If you're planning to bring any pups with you on your trip, sometimes having an extra person there to mind the dogs while you're busy getting married, taking photos, etc. can be super useful. Although as a 2 person photography team, Devon is also super happy to do any necessary dogsitting during elopements, it's probably his favorite part of being an assistant photographer!
4) If you're not hiring a videographer to document your backpacking elopement, having a loved one record your ceremony on their phone can be a great option to have a video that you can show to your friends & family once you get back home.

If you do decide to invite guests along, it's super important that you have to find someone in your circle of loved ones who is down for the adventure. We wouldn't recommend using your backpacking elopement as an introduction to backpacking for friends and family members who have never done it before, because that's going to add a lot of extra stress and logistics for you to manage. You don't want to be spending your elopement coaxing reluctant guests to enjoy backpacking, so choose folks who have done at least 1 overnight trip before, have some experience hiking, and are excited to support you!

From a photography standpoint, we love backpacking elopements with or without guests! It's honestly all about whatever feels best, least stressful, and most fun for you.

You may need vehicles with all wheel drive or high clearance to access some of the rougher forestry or gravel roads here in Washington. These types of roads also take longer to drive, so factor that in to your time estimates as well. You'll want to keep your group small to comply wilderness group size limits, campground or campsite occupancy limits, etc. You'll also need to keep in mind everyone's individual fitness level, accessibility needs, and comfort in the backcountry to make sure your chosen location isn't too difficult of a trail for you, your partner, or your guests and/or vendors. Have chats with all your guests, and ask them honestly what they think they can handle and still enjoy. For any vendors coming along with you, ask them if the trail you have in mind is doable for them, and will still allow them enough energy and time to do their best work for your elopement once you all arrive.

This is where a bit of pragmatism can be handy. You may love the idea of doing a 40 mile, 20 mile a day route for your elopement, but is that actually going to be fun? Will it allow you to have time to get married, enjoy the scenery, hang out? Will that be too long of a trek for your partner, who maybe will have a heavier pack, or less stamina, or just enjoys shorter treks more than longer ones? Typically, it's a good idea to aim for the easier side of what you think you can do for your backpacking elopement. Not to say that you can't pick a trail that's challenging, but the key is to balance the challenging with fun. It's probably not a great idea to pick a trail that's massively challenging, or far beyond the scale of anything you've hiked before.

Now that you have your dream backpacking elopement location researched, vetted, and selected, you're ready to get to planning. At this stage, you should know roughly who's coming, when it's happening, and where it's happening. On to the details!

Think about what vendors, if any, you want to include in your backpacking elopement. A photographer, videographer? Make sure they have experience with backpacking and elopements, and have all their own gear (Shameless plug here: we've got 10 years experience in elopements, backpacking, and we'd love to join you for your elopement adventure!) A florist? Pro tip: Dried flowers & silk flowers won't wilt, and they tend to hold up to the wear & tear of the backcountry a little better. A makeup artist? Some makeup artists who specialize in elopements will hike in and camp out with you to do your services. You can also opt to have your hair and makeup done by a HMUA before you hit the trail, and plan with them about how to make sure your look lasts through to the ceremony. They are capable of some real magic with the power of setting spray & hair spray, you'd be surprised. A wedding cake or desserts? It may sound crazy, but we've hiked a full wedding cake into the backcountry before, unscathed! It was hilarious, a fun challenge, and also: enjoying delicious wedding cake beside a glacial alpine lake? Top tier life experience.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by finding vendors, we've got a great network of elopement vendors in Washington State that we love to recommend to our couples. We make sure to research them all, ensure they're all LGBTQ+ friendly, and make sure you're getting the best and most relevant folks for your specific needs & style. In this case, we'd also be finding and recommending vendors for you who would be down for the unique fun and challenges of backpacking elopements.

This section will depend greatly on your choice of location and the trails you'll be taking for your backpacking elopement. A great elopement photographer will be really helpful to you here, and will let you know what permits and passes you'll need to get for your elopement, how hard they usually are to get, and will be able to direct you to the correct office to contact and help you with any questions about the applications.

If you are eloping in National Forest, DNR, or BLM land, it is unlikely you'll need a special use permit, but every National Forest unit has its own rules about events, weddings, and what requires a special use permit, so be sure to check. If you are eloping in a National Park, you likely will need a special use permit. In general, you'll want to apply for your special use permit as early as you can. The park offices are understaffed and can have long reply times, and you want to make sure you have your permit in time for your elopement, and to give yourself the best chances of securing a permit for your first choice location. Each National Park has their own rules about special use permits and weddings though. For the National Parks in Washington, here's a quick breakdown:
Mount Rainier NP: The most complicated special use permit system in WA state. You will need a special use permit for your elopement, and you can choose only from a list of designated places and zones, and it will be dependent on day of the week & group size.
Olympic NP: Currently the park does not require special use permits for weddings of 5 people or less, which makes it a really convenient, stress-free option. For weddings of over 5 people, contact the park to start your special use permit application.
North Cascades NP: Most trails listed online as being in the North Cascades NP are actually not really within the park boundary, they're in bordering National Forest land. Most of the land within this NP is undeveloped wilderness. However, if your wedding is actually taking place inside the North Cascades NP boundary, you'll need a special use permit. Contact their office to start your application.

This section will depend greatly on your choice of location and the trails you'll be taking for your backpacking elopement. A great elopement photographer will be really helpful to you here, and will let you know what permits and passes you'll need to get for your elopement, how hard they usually are to get, and will be able to direct you to the correct office to contact and help you with any questions.

If you are backpacking for your elopement, you'll likely need a wilderness permit. This is the permit that allows for your overnight stay in the backcountry. Not every backpacking trip requires them, but many do. Some land managers issue these in person or online, or even self-issued at the trailhead, all depending on how busy the trail is and how much they need to manage backcountry visitation. They can range from very easy to get to very difficult. Some areas are first come first served, some areas allow for dispersed wilderness camping with no designated sites, and some have a reservation system for their backcountry campsites, like most National Parks. For these, you'll want to reserve your campsite online well in advance through recreation.gov. Some very high traffic backcountry zones, like Mount Rainier, the North Cascades, and the Enchantments have lottery systems in place to handle reservation demand for backpacking sites. To give yourself the best chance of scoring that dream backpacking campsite, you'll want to learn the rules and release dates of the lottery system for that area.

In addition to any wilderness permits and special use permits, you'll also probably need a pass for your vehicle to park at the trailhead. There's Discover Passes, which can be either day or yearly passes, which cover all Washington State Parks. There's a NW Forest Passes, which can be either day or yearly passes, which cover all National Forest lands in WA & OR state. There's a National Park Pass, which can cover a single entry at a specific park, or a yearly pass at all parks. A few national parks also have timed entry passes, which are designed to manage vehicle traffic in the park (luckily Mt Rainier NP, which had a trial run of timed entry vehicle reservations, has decided not to renew it in 2026). Depending on the location, you might need a Tribal recreational parking passes, if you are eloping on Native Tribal lands in Washington, or on park lands managed jointly with a tribe. And finally there's the America the Beautiful Pass, which covers all national parks, all BLM lands, all DNR lands, and all National Forests. We usually recommend the America the Beautiful pass for our couples eloping on public lands, because they're a convenient all-in-one pass that's good for the entire country, all year.

How much will the permits cost? This depends on quite a few things. To be on the safe side, budget for around $150 in total in permit, passes, and reservations for your backpacking elopement.

For marriage licenses, you'll want to apply about a month before your ceremony date. Marriage licenses can be issued by any county in Washington and are valid state-wide, regardless of the county where your ceremony is taking place. Once your marriage license is issued to you, it has a mandatory 3 day waiting period before it becomes valid and you can use it. Licenses are then valid for 60 days after the three-day waiting period.

For applying for your marriage license in Washington state, you have several options available:
1) Online You can apply for your marriage license online through the King County website, and then pick up your license in person. It's important to know that you'll have to complete this last step in person, and it can't be picked up for you by anyone else. Make sure to have adequate time in your itinerary to pick up your marriage license in Seattle (and that you also have 3 days from that pick up time until your ceremony can be held).
2) Mail In If you don't want to deal with the hassle of in-person pick up, and figuring out the waiting period, you can also apply for a marriage license by mail through King County, Thurston County, Clark County, and several others, and your license will be mailed to you. This option does require the use of a notary, but we usually find this is the slightly more convenient option for folks coming from out of state.
3) In Person If you're a Washington resident or are local to where you'll be having your elopement, you can head to your local county records department to complete a marriage license application in person. All counties in Washington support in-person applications, and they can usually be issued the same day (though they are still subject to the 3 day waiting period rule).

How much does it cost? Marriage license application fees for Washington State vary by county, but you can expect an application fee of somewhere between 150-185 dollars.

If you're performing your legal wedding ceremony in Washington during your elopement, you'll need five people total to complete the paperwork: you, your partner, an officiant, and 2 witnesses.

Officiants can be just about anybody (getting ordained online is easy), so you can ask a trusted friend, family member, or loved one to come along and officially marry you. We also offer officiating for our couples as part of our elopement packages, and we're happy to help you fill out your marriage license and get y'all legally married on the trail. (Some other elopement photographers also offer this service too, so be sure to ask).
Witnesses can also be just about anybody (just not you, your partner, or the officiant). You can choose to invite some loved ones along as witnesses, or if you're not having any guests, you can ask your vendors, fellow campers, random hikers, or patrolling park rangers to sign your marriage license as the two required witnesses. Typically people are delighted to sign, even total strangers. It makes for a fun bit of trail magic!

This is going to be super dependent on a few key things: your location (ie what trail you're hiking), the time of year, the activities you have planned, and your photographer, and whether you're local to the area of your elopement or if you're travelling in from out of town. If you're working with us, we'll be building you a custom elopement timeline, but it can be helpful to have a rough idea of the timing ahead of time. You'll want to give yourself lots of time for hiking. Typically about 2 miles per hour on averagely steep terrain is most people's pacing, so take that math and extrapolate for your trail, you'll have a good idea of how much time you'll need for hiking. Also take a note of when the sunrises and sunsets times are, and how map out how long any driving components of your trip will be.

During the months before your elopement, you're shopping for rings, wedding attire, any extra wedding goodies or accessories. Now is also a great time to take inventory of what backpacking gear you have, and purchase, rent, or borrow any remaining items that you'll need for your trip into the backcountry! Aside from any outdoor clothes like hiking boots, jackets, rain shells, etc, you'll want a lightweight butane stove, some kind of dehydrated meals, a way to filter water, lightweight tents and sleeping bags, headlamps, your 10 essentials, a bear cannister or bear bag (most of the PNW is black bear country), trekking poles, along with a backpack that is large enough to hold all your supplies. You can also use this time to train for your elopement trek! This isn't necessary, but we recommend doing some conditioning hikes of a similar length & difficulty in the months prior to your backpacking elopement, just to get your mountain legs under you.

Your packing will be as unique as your elopement, but to get a place to start, you can take a look at a basic packing list here. In general, your packing will boil down to: make sure you have everything you need for your elopement, and make sure you have everything you need for backpacking. It can be helpful to lay everything out on a flat surface and to create your own custom packing list, to make sure you've got everything you need and nothing gets left behind. For fitting your wedding attire into your backpacks, we've got some handy tricks: wedding dresses can typically be rolled into a cylinder, suits can usually be hung off the back of your backpack via their clotheshanger, and bouquets can usually be stuffed into the front elastic or a waterbottle holder compartment of a pack. For vows, rings, marriage licenses, and other delicate items that you want to make sure don't get wet or squished, putting them inside a ziploc bag and then placing that inside your bear cannister or a lightweight tupperware is a great solution. For packing any wedding food or snacks, besides making sure that you have a secure way to store them away from wildlife, also make sure that you have a secure and ample way to clean up and safely store any leftovers and any scented trash you'll generate (like snack wrappers, hygiene products, dehydrated meal bags, wedding cake leftovers, beer cans, fresh flower bouquets, etc.) Throwing a small bag or two into your pack for trash management, just in case, is a solid idea and has saved our backcountry experience many a time.

Map out any driving times & distances to get to your trailhead, and confirm the road conditions. Get plenty of rest and plenty of hydration in the days leading up to your backpacking elopement, and fuel yourself up with some nutritious, calorie dense food before starting out on your hike. If you're going to be hiking at a much higher elevation than usual, staying at high elevation for a night beforehand can really help you feel better and reduce that elevation fatigue once you do start hiking. If you're coming from further away for your backpacking elopement, I usually recommend folks book a hotel or a vacation rental the night before to get some good quality sleep and a shower, as opposed to sleeping in your car at the trailhead (though if you have a camper van, you might feel more comfy sleeping there than an unfamiliar hotel room anyway!)

Everyone's pace and speed hiking is different, but please don't feel the need to rush! You're here, you've taken months to get to this point, finally in the backcountry, the last thing we'd want is for you to rush through the whole thing just to get to camp. Your timeline should have planned out plenty of time for hiking, so don't forget to slow down and really experience it! About 2 miles per hour on averagely steep terrain is a good benchmark for most people. When hiking, folks might spread out on the trail a little ways, just don't get too far away from other members of your group, for safety reasons. You should try to keep everyone in your group no further than a quarter mile from each other, at most.
If you're backpacking in the PNW for the first time for your elopement, the elevation of most trails here is much milder than in high altitude alpine hiking like in the Sierras or the Colorado Rockies, (around 5-8k for most peaks), so while you won't likely get elevation sickness, a change of that magnitude in elevation from sea level might leave you feeling more fatigued, and you may find yourself moving a little slower than usual, which is totally fine. Be gentle with yourself, take your time, and enjoy the process! I tend on the slower side myself. I'm not much of a stats or sports/fitness hiker, personally. I love to stop and take pictures (shocking twist, I know), admire the mountains, identify plants and animals and just generally take more of a measured, chill pace when hiking.
Once you arrive at your campsite, make sure you're following Leave No Trace rules about camping! Some easy camping basics are: camp only in established sites or durable surfaces, and at least 200 feet away from any water source. If you are camping in a reservation-based backcountry site, make sure you're camping at the correct site number and have your backcountry permit available to present, in case a ranger asks for it.

You've hiked all the way here, set up camp, and now you're in your wedding clothes, with your partner, in an awe inspiring place, about to finally make it official. How exciting!!! This bit's pretty self explanatory, but I do like to remind folks to really slow down and get in touch with their emotions right before their elopement ceremony. It can be so easy in all the bustle and hustle of the day to just jump into your wedding ceremony, but the whole point of eloping is to be intentional about how you're getting married. So take a minute to center yourself, maybe do some breathing, play some music. Take 30 seconds to stare into your partner's eyes, or whatever it is that will make you feel connected, grounded, and ready to get married.

After taking lots of time to enjoy the beauty of the scenery, get some epic photos, eat some snacks, and generally do other fun elopement stuff, it's now time to head back to the trailhead. Make sure to pack out all waste, trash, and any other litter you may find. After packing up your camp but before heading out, do a nice thorough ground sweep of your campground area, just to make sure you haven't missed anything. Oftentimes we find that there's some micro-trash or small litter that we missed the first time, or that was inadvertently left by prior campers, and we pack that out as well!

This is of course an optional step, but one that a lot of our elopement couples enjoy! Hosting a party after you elope can range from something super casual and simple, like inviting some friends and family over for a backyard barbeque, or can be very formal, more like a traditional wedding reception with dances and speeches. You can wear your wedding attire again, if you want an excuse to get fancy, or opt for something more casual! For elopement afterparties, the best part is that you get to share a bit of the experience with everyone who wants to celebrate your new marriage with you! Displaying your elopement photos, reading your vows a second time, or having a video recording of your ceremony are all great ways to give folks a window into what your elopement was like. This can also be a great opportunity to include wedding traditions from your cultural backgrounds, like a mehndi party, chinese wedding tea ceremony, breaking the glass under a chuppah, or a persian wedding knife dance. Or you can incorporate you & your friends' shared hobbies, like hosting a game night. There are truly no right or wrong ways to do this step, just whatever feels the most fun and comfy for you.