Reservations will not be needed to visit Yosemite National Park in 2023/NPS file
Reservations won't be needed to enter Yosemite National Park at "peak hours" in 2023, though the park staff continues to search for a way to reduce congestion in the park.
The reservations were put in place back in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid pandemic and in 2022 due to construction projects.
"Yosemite has been grappling with congestion—even gridlock—for decades. We want to build from the lessons learned from the last three summers of managed access," the park said Tuesday in a series of Twitter messages. "Look for an announcement in December, when we'll start seeking your help to design an approach that provides a great visitor experience while protecting Yosemite's natural and cultural resources."
Officials at the Yosemite Mariposa County Tourism Bureau hailed the news.
“This decision will help our visitors, especially those from other states & countries who tend to plan their once-in-a-lifetime vacations to Yosemite about a year in advance,” said Jonathan Farrington, the organization's CEO and executive director. “For our friends who live closer to the region, this allows them to be more spontaneous with their plans to visit.”
The suspension of the reservation system in 2023 will allow NPS to conduct a full environmental assessment on managing visitation in the coming year that will include public input. YMCTB and the Mariposa County Lodging Association members look forward to participating and engaging with the National Park Service and providing business-based data and experience in those conversations, the groups said in a release.
The suspension of the reservation system is expected to help the recovery of Mariposa County’s lodging businesses, which have struggled with occupancy during peak season over the past three years, the release added. Local economic growth has been slowed by sluggish worldwide economies, with poor international exchange rates for the Euro and Pound vs. the strong U.S. Dollar, inflation, and rising travel costs. Mariposa County relies on strong domestic and international visitation during the peak summer months to support its businesses and workforce.
YMCTB does recommend that visitors make a detailed travel plan for visiting, no matter how long or short their vacation will be. The organization offers some helpful tips for visitation:
- Arrive early to avoid queues at Yosemite’s entrance gates.
- Use public transportation or commercial tours, such as YARTS and the Yosemite Valley Shuttle System or several of the regions tour companies.
- Consider spending full days exploring regions in and out of the park instead of trying to see the nearly 1,200 square mile park in a single day.
- Avoid peak traffic times between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at park gates on holiday weekendsVisit during fall, winter and spring for a more serene experience in Yosemite.
“Yosemite Mariposa County is a four-season destination, and each season is spectacular and worth experiencing,” Farrington said. “If you’ve visited in summer, you’ll love the beauty and cooler temperatures of fall, tranquility of winter and the waterfalls and wildflowers of spring.”
Support Essential Coverage of Essential Places
Comments
Chris - should we charge more for the 50% of Americans that don't pay federal taxes?
Should Booz Allen be paying corporate taxes when they are defined as a person by the supreme court? They do run recreation.gov and all.
Also- perhaps read up on what was proposed last year. My thoughts are pretty well in line with current NPS thinking and what is the worldwide norm.
https://www.eenews.net/articles/foreign-visitors-could-face-higher-entry...
I apologize for my terse writing. Its not my intent to be combative. I just like public lands and tend to have strong views.
Cheers to all
Chris - Sigh. I'll try this again since you just aren't understanding. My original comment was much like you did here, whenever there is a post about dealing with overcrowding in our parks someone always brings up charging foreign visitors more for admission. My point is that unless we are going to start charging foreigners some absurd amount for admission this is not a solution to overcrowding. Do you really think that multiplying the weekly RV admission fee at Yosemite by 10, for instance ($35 to $350), is going to meaningfully reduce visitation numbers - especially since according to you these same foreigners are paying to put their personal RV on a boat and paying to ship that to the US? So unless your solution is to charge foreigners some absurd amount this idea absolutely will not have a major impact on NPS visitation numbers.
Steve- Yes. It will reduce foriegn visation. Also- the reason Euro's import their RVs into the US is not because they have endless funds- its because its actually cheaper to do that than it is to rent an RV in America for an extended time.
Perhaps the disconnect here is you misunderstood what I had wrote about european travelers. Its not uncommon to see these Euro vans in the US. Ask them sometime why
Well chris, in my opinion corporations shouldn't pay taxes and in reality don't pay taxes. Nevertheless Booz Allen collected $267 million of its clients money and handed it over to the government in its Fiscal 2022 year. The point of my post was that whether someone pays taxes or not is not a valid criteria for deciding what to charge to enter a National Park. A far better approach is to eliminate the bus load discounts and bulk reservation purchases. Those buses packed with passangers are getting people in for under $10 per person.