Yosemite reservations will be needed to enter national park during peak hours. How it works
Reservations will again be required to enter Yosemite National Park starting this spring, but this time, only during peak hours, Yosemite officials announced Wednesday.
Yosemite’s day-use reservation system was first implemented in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s returning this spring in hopes of alleviating traffic congestion because of many Yosemite construction projects planned in 2022.
Day-use reservations will be required to enter Yosemite from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. starting May 20 and continuing until Sept. 30, except those with an overnight reservation within Yosemite, who will be able to enter the park without a separate day-use reservation.
Visitors entering Yosemite outside the peak hours don’t have to have a reservation.
Entrance reservations can be purchased on recreation.gov starting at 8 a.m. March 23. They are $2 in addition to normal park entrance fees, normally $35. People without computer access can make a reservation by calling 877-444-6777.
Seventy percent of the reservations will be available for purchase on March 23. The other 30% will go on sale seven days before an arrival date, available daily at 8 a.m.
Visitors with special passes, including annual and lifetime pass holders, still need a reservation to enter during peak hours. Each entrance reservation is valid for one vehicle and the occupants of that vehicle for three consecutive days, including the arrival date.
Visitors don’t have to arrive on the first day of their reservation, but, for example, anyone arriving for the first time on the third day of a reservation would only be granted access for that final day.
Yosemite officials said, “The peak hours reservation system is designed to spread visitation out and reduce chronic congestion in the park.”
“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.”
People who want to drive through Yosemite without stopping, such as those traveling along Tioga Road to the Eastern Sierra, can only do so without a reservation if they enter the park before 6 a.m. or after 4 p.m.
Visitors who don’t need an entrance reservation during peak hours – anyone with overnight reservations within Yosemite – include those with private lodging and vacation rentals in the Yosemite communities of Wawona, Yosemite West or Foresta, in addition to Yosemite hotels and campgrounds.
Hetch Hetchy – accessed via its own park entrance off Highway 120 – doesn’t require a peak hours reservation.
Reservations to enter the park during peak hours also won’t be needed for visitors with wilderness permits for backpack trips, hikers with Half Dome permits, and visitors entering the park via Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System (YARTS) buses or on permitted commercial tours.
Yosemite construction projects planned in 2022 include repairs to roads, trails, campgrounds, visitor facilities and utility systems. Glacier Point Road, Tuolumne Meadows Campground and Crane Flat Campground will be closed for extensive repairs.
How busy will it be in Yosemite, and are reservations here to stay?
Yosemite spokesperson Scott Gediman said with the passes that will be available this year, it’s estimated the park will see approximately 72% of visitation during peak hours as compared to a summer day in 2019.
“With visitors entering non-peak hours added, it is estimated that the park will see 98% of visitation overall,” Gediman continued. “And, since the non-peak hours entrances are not limited, the park could very well see higher visitation overall.”
Yosemite is planning to issue fewer entrance reservations this year than before.
Officials said they will issue about 2,600 entrance reservations each day for weekday arrivals, and 1,900 a day for weekends.
Last summer, total entrance passes issued increased to approximately 3,150 daily Sunday through Wednesday, and 2,200 daily Thursday through Sunday.
That correlated to about 5,760 vehicles daily in the park, including those staying overnight, Yosemite officials said last year.
Yosemite didn’t share the estimated number of vehicles for 2022.
When the reservation system was first implemented in 2020, there were about 3,600 vehicles in Yosemite a day – about half of what there were in June 2019, prior to the pandemic.
This year’s reservation system is a pilot program and might return in subsequent years.
“A rigorous data collection system will be in place to assess the system as a possible long-term management tool to alleviate the chronic and worsening congestion that has affected Yosemite for more than 50 years,” said Yosemite officials, adding that decisions will include public input. Yosemite officials said comments about the system can be directed to the superintendent’s office.
Mark Rose, Sierra Nevada program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association, is among those in support of the reservation system.
“As problems with overcrowding have worsened in recent years, reservation systems have proven very effective in combating the endless traffic, crowded trails and long lines for facilities that plague overcrowded national parks,” Rose said in a statement.
More information is available on Yosemite’s website, go.nps.gov/reserve.
This story was originally published February 16, 2022 at 1:18 PM.
CORRECTION: The original story incorrectly stated Yosemite will issue less than half the passes it did last year.
Yosemite also shared more information after publishing.
