Visiting Yosemite for Labor Day weekend? Here’s the information you need to know
Here’s the latest on what to expect during a trip to Yosemite National Park over the popular Labor Day weekend and beyond.
Reservations still required to enter Yosemite
Visitors still need day-use reservations via recreation.gov to enter Yosemite through September 30 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, unless they have an overnight lodging or camping reservation in the park, or a wilderness, Half Dome or climbing permit.
Those visiting Hetch Hetchy, or just driving through Yosemite, don’t need a reservation to enter.
Reservations are required for all campgrounds in Yosemite this year. Yosemite campgrounds that don’t require reservations, primarily along Tioga Road, aren’t open.
Open lodging, restaurants, and modified operations are listed on travelyosemite.com, updated by the park’s concessionaire, Yosemite Hospitality, a subsidiary of Aramark.
Busy traffic, no shuttle buses, construction
Yosemite officials said in July that visitation levels were increasing to about 90% of normal, approximately 6,480 vehicles a day in the park.
There have been “very long lines” at Yosemite entrance gates. The $2 reservations to enter Yosemite, required in addition to normal entrance fees, must be purchased online. They are not available at park entrance stations.
There’s also been traffic delays in Yosemite Valley, driven in part by the park’s shuttle buses not operating this year due to staffing constraints.
Parking lots were filling “earlier and more rapidly,” especially on the east end of Yosemite Valley, which is closest to some popular trails, including those to Vernal Fall and Mirror Lake.
Officials are trying to alleviate traffic congestion in busy Yosemite Valley with a new pilot program, in place until at least August. It includes things like opening bus lanes to all vehicles, and reconfiguring the flow of traffic.
There’s also widespread construction occurring on Yosemite trails, facilities, parking lots and roads, including along the Tioga Road which crosses over Yosemite to the Eastern Sierra.
Fire restrictions and air quality
Yosemite officials are currently prohibiting wood and charcoal fires (including twig stoves) below 8,000 feet in elevation, “except in open campgrounds, open picnic areas that have park-installed grills, and residential areas.”
“Portable stoves that don’t use wood are allowed. Allowed stoves are those that use pressurized gas, liquid fuel, propane, or alcohol (including tablet/cub stoves).”
National forests in California, including nearby Sierra National Forest, are closed until at least Sept. 17 due to “extreme fire conditions.” National forests are different than national parks, which remain open.
Yosemite shares air quality conditions at go.nps.gov/airquality. It was listed as moderate on Friday afternoon at Yosemite Village in Yosemite Valley, based on monitoring of particulate matter in the air, PM 2.5.
Smoking is prohibited in Yosemite, “except within an enclosed vehicle, a building in which smoking is allowed, open, designated campgrounds and picnic areas where wood or charcoal fires are allowed, paved developed areas, and designated smoking areas.”
Fireworks are always prohibited in Yosemite.
Fire restrictions are updated online at nps.gov/yose.
Masks needed in park buildings due to COVID-19
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the National Park Service requires everyone to wear a mask inside all NPS buildings “and in crowded outdoor spaces, regardless of vaccination status or community transmission levels.”
Yosemite spokespeople, when asked whether that’s just NPS buildings or all buildings within Yosemite, didn’t directly answer the question, instead referring to the above NPS statement from Aug. 16.
Lisa Cesaro, regional marking director for Yosemite Hospitality, provided more clarity: “The concessioner-operated facilities in Yosemite National Park are also asking all park visitors to wear masks inside public buildings such as hotel lobbies, gift shops etc.”
Yosemite Hospitality also states on its website: “Consistent with CDC guidance regarding areas of substantial or high transmission, visitors to Yosemite, regardless of vaccination status, are required to wear a mask inside all park buildings.”
Coronavirus, and the more contagious delta variant, has been reported in Yosemite – also detected in park sewage – but Yosemite has not shared its number of COVID-19 cases. Total cases for Mariposa County have been shared by local health officials.
This story was originally published September 3, 2021 at 1:49 PM.
