Published May 21, 2026 03:30AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
On Saturday, May 2, I was walking through Camp 4 overflow parking lot in Yosemite National Park when my phone rang. \u201cI just got ice cream, and I\u2019m heading to El Cap Meadow to hang,\u201d my friend Katy said. \u201cWant to meet me there?\u201d<\/p>\n
I told her yes, but I\u2019d be taking the bus. There was no chance in hell I\u2019d drive my car and risk losing my parking spot.<\/p>\n
Yosemite\u2019s parking lots that day, the first major weekend of a nervously anticipated season with no entry limits, could reasonably be described as apocalyptic. Cars squeezed between trees and rocks, onto curbs, and into the dirt on both sides of the road. On my 500-foot walk to the Lodge shuttle stop, five separate drivers flagged me down to ask if I was leaving the lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cSorry!\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n
As I moved through the lot, the situation only got worse. The shuttle itself was trapped by an illegally parked car, which was being loaded onto a tow truck by the time I got in line. I counted two more tow trucks in the same lot, removing cars that were parked at odd angles. When I finally stepped onto the bus, I took a window seat and gaped at the line of\u00a0cars parked along the roadside. It extended for the entire 1.8-mile stretch from Camp 4 to the El Cap picnic area.<\/p>\n
Parking along this road is illegal, and every single driver was breaking the rules.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is crazy,\u201d I told my partner. I couldn\u2019t help but pity the hundreds of tourists who were getting ticketed, towed, or trapped on the road. What\u2019s the point of driving all the way here if you can\u2019t even get out of your car?<\/p>\n For the past five years, Yosemite officials have conducted a careful set of experiments with a timed-entry reservation system, only to find its conclusions overridden by a federal order. Back in 2019, the park experienced 4.42 million visitors, its highest number since records began in 1906. In 2020, after the park shut down for three months, administrators introduced the first iteration of the reservation system in order to contain the spread of COVID-19. Day-use reservations were required for the majority of visitors.\u00a0Anyone who didn\u2019t book lodging in advance, enter via public transit, or have a wilderness or Half Dome permit needed a reservation. This continued throughout 2020 and 2021, shifting in 2022 to a \u201cpeak hours\u201d reservation system for entrants between 6 A.M. and 4 P.M. each day.<\/p>\n Then, in 2023, Yosemite temporarily halted reservations, with an exception for the last three weekends of February, when the park usually gets slammed for Firefall. But doing away with the system had consequences. According to a 224-page NPS report on park visitation, the 2023 season saw \u201clong lines at entrance stations and increased strain on the park\u2019s employees, resources, and infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was here in 2023, and it was a shit show,\u201d said one employee of the concessionaire Aramark, which oversees hospitality and food service in the park. The employee requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. A survey conducted in 2023 found that 51 percent\u00a0<\/b>of visitors said they were negatively affected by parking shortages. An additional 26 percent\u00a0said that crowding at restrooms and visitor centers negatively impacted their visit.<\/p>\n Having presumably learned their lesson in 2023, NPS officials brought back entry limits in 2024 and 2025 in a more limited, precise form: reservations would be required every day in the busy summer period, but only on weekends in the spring and fall. In August 2024, the park released a 224-page draft management plan that outlined and compared four different reservation systems, concluding that a parkwide reservation requirement during peak hours (5 A.M to 4 P.M.) would be the best option for managing the crowds. Already, the numbers were ticking up; 2025 saw 4.27 million visitors for Yosemite, nearly as many as before COVID-19.<\/p>\n In 2024, I worked in Yosemite as a Climber Steward, a position managed by the park\u2019s nonprofit, Yosemite Conservancy, that offers advice and guidance to climbers. I came back to visit in June 2025, and both times, often drove between the park\u2019s most crowded areas: Yosemite Village, Yosemite Lodge, Camp 4, and El Cap Meadow. Although lines were sometimes long, and I occasionally had trouble finding parking, I was never seriously delayed or hampered by the crowds.\u00a0It seemed that Yosemite finally had its ideal rules to manage visitation capacity.<\/p>\n However, on April 3, 2025, Interior Secretary Doug Burgam ordered<\/a> all national parks to remain \u201copen and accessible.\u201d Following that, on February 18, 2026, Yosemite Superintendent Ray McPadden announced that the NPS would do away with reservations in\u00a02026. A March 2026 survey<\/a> by the Yosemite Union showed that 85 percent of the 135 verified employee responses did not approve of Superintendent McPadden\u2019s decision, predicting that no entry limit would lead to angry, disappointed, and exasperated guests who take out their frustrations on frontline workers. As of now, more than 300 staff members have publicly called<\/a> for this decision to be reversed.<\/p>\n This spring, I returned to Yosemite to report on climbing for Outside\u2019s <\/i>sister publication, Climbing. <\/i>Since the season\u2019s opening, on Saturdays, I have seen the same clogged parking lots, miles-long entrance lines, and illegally parked cars that I saw on May 2.\u00a0However, as summer approaches\u2014and as monthly visitation nearly doubles<\/a> between May and July\u2014employees are steeling themselves for an unwinnable battle. In early May, one staff member in concessions told me that they predict the traditional Saturday crowding to become an everyday situation in June.<\/p>\n \u201cReally?\u201d I asked the worker, astounded. \u201cEvery single day?\u201d<\/p>\n They nodded with a grim expression, the same I\u2019d seen on every other Yosemite worker I\u2019d asked about this topic: on guard and tired already.<\/p>\n Tourists are also feeling the impact of an unrestricted entrance policy. One visiting rock climber told me that the few restaurants in the park are overwhelmed by the crowds. During a recent trip to Curry Village, a collection of shops, lodges, and eateries near Half Dome, he saw hundreds of people waiting in line to get into the two restaurants.\u00a0\u201cI just got off Half Dome and went to Curry [Village] for a chill pizza moment,\u201d he told me. \u201cThere were lines out the door everywhere; it was a total junk show. I had never seen this many people in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n Amid the crowding and congestion, many readers may be planning to visit Yosemite National Park this summer. The good news is that, with some careful planning<\/a>, you can sidestep the congestion. Here are four tips to hopefully save you some headaches during your visit.<\/p>\n Currently, Saturday is the only day when parking in Yosemite feels downright impossible. However, this will likely expand to Sunday, Friday, and beyond as the summer crowds draw nearer. For now, scheduling your visit from Monday to Thursday will give you the best chance of avoiding long entrance lines and full parking lots.<\/p>\n If you absolutely have to visit on a busy day, such as a Saturday or the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, it\u2019s ideal to get to the entrance station in the early mornings (before 5 A.M.) or evenings (after 7 P.M.). You\u2019re much better off getting an early start, entering without fuss, and finding a cool spot to nap by the river than being stuck for miles in a never-ending line.<\/p>\nDitching Reservations Opens the Door for Crowds<\/h2>\n
What to Expect<\/h2>\n
How to Visit Yosemite and Beat the Crowds<\/h2>\n
1. Avoid Weekends, Especially Saturdays<\/h3>\n
2. Ditch Your Car for Public Transit<\/h3>\n