Washington gives you 8 hours at a rest area in any 24-hour period. That number sits in state law, not in a sign-maker’s discretion, and the same statute makes camping there unlawful. As of 2026-08-14, WSDOT’s own rest area page listed four locations closed, including both directions of Toutle River on I-5.
The statute, in its own words
RCW 47.38.020(1) makes it unlawful “to stop, stand, or park any vehicle, including but not limited to trailers, campers, and motorcycles, for more than eight hours within a twenty-four hour period,” and separately unlawful “to camp or to maintain a camp, tent, or other sleeping accommodation or facility, in any safety rest area” (RCW 47.38.020, checked 2026-08-14).
Three parts of the same section rarely get quoted:
- WSDOT “may also designate zones within a safety rest area with shorter parking time limits.” Eight hours is the ceiling, not a promise. A posted zone can be shorter, and the sign on your space governs.
- Commercial vehicles “may park up to an hour beyond federally mandated rest periods,” so a truck driver’s clock is tied to the federal rest period and yours is not.
- A disabled vehicle gets 48 hours, “after which time the vehicle is subject to mandatory impoundment.”
The statute hands enforcement to the Washington State Patrol and tells it to enforce the section “to the maximum extent practicable.”
What the statute does not settle
It does not draw the line between sleeping in your vehicle and maintaining a “sleeping accommodation or facility.” Read plainly, the parking clock covers the vehicle and the camping ban covers setting something up: a car with someone asleep in it inside the 8 hours is a parked car, while a tent, an awning out, and a stove on a table is a camp. Where a given trooper puts the boundary is not something the statute answers, and neither will we.
WSDOT’s rest area page is no help on that question either. We read it on 2026-08-14. It publishes location, amenities and open or closed status per site, and no rules whatsoever. The hour limit lives in the statute. The sign at the facility is what you actually obey.
Four closed, no reason, no date
From the same page on the same date, showing “Closed”:
- Silver Lake, I-5 southbound, MP 188, 5.9 miles south of Everett
- Toutle River, I-5 northbound, MP 54, 5 miles north of Castle Rock
- Toutle River, I-5 southbound, MP 54, 23.4 miles south of Chehalis
- Sprague Lake, I-90 eastbound, MP 241, 20.3 miles east of Ritzville
Toutle River is the one to plan around. It is out in both directions, so that stop is gone whichever way you are driving I-5 through the Castle Rock area. WSDOT publishes no reason and no reopening date for any of the four, which means the page status is the only thing you can check.
What to do
Look at the status page the day you drive, not the week before. If you need more than 8 hours, a rest area is the wrong tool for the job: free camping in Washington covers the national forest land where a longer stay is actually legal. Our Washington rest area page carries the statute and the date we last confirmed it.
The posted sign beats this page. If your zone is signed shorter than 8 hours, the sign is your limit.