Worried about unprecedented traffic jams in Yosemite National Park this summer because of multiple construction projects, Yosemite officials announced last month that from May 20 to Sept. 30, they plan to limit the number of visitors to Yosemite by requiring online reservations to enter.
It’s the first time in the park’s 157-year history that day-use reservations have been required for a reason other than COVID-19.
The reservation system goes live at 8 a.m. Pacific Time on Wednesday.
To make a reservation for a day-use visit, go to www.recreation.gov and enter “Yosemite” in the search field. Reservations will not be sold in the park. There is a $2 reservation fee. Visitors who don’t have a computer can make a reservation by calling (877) 444-6777.
Park visitors will need a reservation to enter between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. seven days a week from May 20 to Sept. 30. The reservation will be valid for three consecutive days.
Motorists who arrive without a reservation during those hours will not be admitted to the park. However, visitors who enter Yosemite before 6 a.m. or after 4 p.m. won’t be required to have a reservation. Nor will visitors with overnight accommodations at campgrounds or hotels within the park, or visitors who have overnight wilderness permits or who travel to the park on shuttle buses.
“A visit to Yosemite should be about enjoying the beautiful granite-lined landscape, not sitting in gridlock,” said Yosemite National Park Superintendent Cicely Muldoon. “Yosemite visitors deserve a high-quality experience in this magnificent place. Our goal with the peak hours system is to ease overcrowding during the busiest times this summer while still offering access for all.”
The new rules raise the possibility that Yosemite eventually will make a reservation system permanent, something hotels, restaurants and other businesses in the surrounding communities have opposed for decades, over fears it could cut into tourism revenues.
An increasing number of other national parks have begun requiring day-use reservations to reduce crowds and traffic, including Muir Woods, Rocky Mountain, Zion and Glacier. Muldoon said in an interview last month that a permanent reservation system is a possibility for Yosemite.
“I think there’s a reasonable chance of that,” she said. “We are going to learn everything we can this summer. The park has been grappling with the issue for decades.”
Reservations are expected to be snapped up fairly quickly. Overall, 70% of Yosemite’s summer reservations will be sold starting Wednesday.
After that, beginning May 13, the remaining 30% of summer reservations will be released on a rolling basis seven days in advance of arrival.
For example, May 13 at 8 a.m. PT is when reservations for May 20 will be released.
Every vehicle entering the park must pay an entry fee, which is $35 per car. Annual or lifetime passes will continue to be accepted in lieu of entrance fees, although reservations are required with those also.
At least seven major construction projects are planned in the coming months at Yosemite, totaling more than $100 million.
Among them: closure all year of Glacier Point Road. The $42 million project to replace 10 miles of pavement on the road, which was built in 1936, from Badger Pass to Glacier Point, along with culverts, trail head parking and retaining walls, is expected to result in more motorists remaining in Yosemite Valley.
Other projects include a $15 million overhaul of the trails and other facilities around Bridalveil Fall in Yosemite Valley, and the closure of campgrounds — Tuolumne Meadows, Crane Flat and Bridalveil Creek — to replace aging water systems, restrooms and other facilities.
Also underway in Yosemite Valley this summer is a $10 million project to build a new welcome center with an outdoor plaza, new restrooms, paths and signs.
All together roughly 800 of the 1,860 parking spaces in Yosemite Valley and the Glacier Point area will be off limits due to construction this summer.
On the busiest summer weekends, Yosemite can get 5,000 vehicles or more. Parks officials said last month that the reservations system will allow 72% of the vehicles that the park received each day in 2019 between 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.
When the “non-peak” hours outside those times are included, visitation will be about 98% of 2019 totals, they estimated.
For more information go to https://www.nps.gov/yose/index.htm
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