With 1,004 records, the snowshoe hare is one of the more thoroughly documented mammals in Washington’s atlas, and the map leans into the mountains. Clallam, Okanogan, and Jefferson counties lead, with the Daniel J. Evans Wilderness Area and Olympic National Park supplying more records than any other named places, a pattern of conifer forest and high country rather than lowland edges.
A hare that changes color with the snow
The snowshoe hare takes its name from oversized hind feet that spread its weight over deep snow, and its coat molts from brown in summer to white in winter, a camouflage cued by day length. That cycle fits a state where so much of the hare’s range sits in the snowy Olympics and Cascades. Records from Mount Rainier National Park, Ross Lake National Recreation Area, and Colville National Forest mark its reach from the wet coastal ranges to the drier northeast.
Summer peaks in a year-round animal
Snowshoe hares do not hibernate; they stay on the move all winter, browsing twigs and bark under a white coat on white snow, when they are nearly invisible. Washington’s records pile up from May through August instead, when snow-free trails open the high country and a brown hare stands out plainly against the green understory.
Status in Washington
NatureServe ranks the snowshoe hare S5, Secure, in Washington. The species is native across the state, and USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous here.
Full species profile
