Travelers dreaming of hiking or camping in Yosemite National Park this summer might want to make backup plans amid ongoing uncertainty surrounding the park’s entry requirements and campground bookings. After several years of requiring visitors to obtain highly coveted advance reservations during peak seasons, this popular California park, which routinely hosts more than half a million people per month during the summer, is indefinitely suspending its timed entry system.
Implemented initially in response to skyrocketing visitor numbers during the COVID-19 pandemic, the reservation system has provided a smoother experience for visitors while protecting the park’s delicate ecosystems by limiting daily vehicle entry during the summer months and busy holiday weekends. However, while the system helped curb overcrowding in some areas, it also sparked frustration among potential visitors who found themselves locked out due to high demand or unable to make last-minute plans to visit. Still, Yosemite officials had previously said the park’s timed-entry reservation system would become permanent in 2025.
The effects of not having a reservation system are going to be a serious disaster for the visitor experience and the natural environment.
Now, it’s on hold. On its reservations page, the park posted that it “anticipates sharing details about this year’s reservation system early in 2025.”
In early February, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the National Park Service is waiting on the “blessing of the new administration” before moving forward with a permanent reservation system. According to the outlet, the uncertainty around future visits to one of America’s most beloved national parks has many travelers holding off booking trips or else making other plans entirely.
“It’s a tough situation,” Jonathan Farrington, executive director of the Yosemite Mariposa County Tourism Bureau, told the Chronicle. “Reservation agents are reporting that people don’t want to book a room unless they can book their vehicle-access reservation at the same time. . . . But then, there may not be any reservation system at all.”
A diminished visitor experience
With the system now on hold, Yosemite is expected to see a potential surge in traffic in the coming months, which could wreak havoc on the visitor experience. According to former Yosemite Superintendent Don Neubacher, as many as 20,000 people visit the park daily in the summer.
“The effects of not having a reservation system are going to be a serious disaster for the visitor experience and the natural environment,” Neubacher told Afar. “During peak times during the summer, wait lines at the entrance stations will be miles long and many hours long. The transportation system without the reservation system cannot function properly and will be overloaded.”
Neubacher added that as visitors’ frustration levels increase, they begin parking in delicate places such as meadows, causing further damage. “Simply put, it will be a mess, and the visitor experience and the natural environment will be negatively impacted,” he said. “One of America’s greatest treasures will lose its luster.”
In addition, Yosemite’s campground reservation system also has been affected, adding another hurdle for hopeful travelers. Yosemite recently shared on its Facebook page that it is postponing reservations for five popular campgrounds (Upper Pines, Lower Pines, North Pines, Wawona, and Hodgdon Meadow), at least from June 15 through July 14.
“Our goal is to release these campground nights as soon as possible and we will provide at least a seven-day advance notice before reservations go on sale,” the post stated. At the time of publication, the post had generated more than 5,000 comments, many expressing anger and frustration, and had been shared more than 3,000 times.
Protests have taken place at some of the most popular—and potentially overcrowded—national parks like Zion in the wake of recent cutbacks.
Photo by Matthias Mullie/Unsplash
Problems at other national parks
Yosemite is not the only national park facing challenges due to recent staffing reductions and scaled-back services.
On February 14, the Trump administration fired about 1,000 year-round Park Service employees (of a total 13,000), just weeks after rescinding job offers to an estimated 8,000 seasonal hires. While the administration has since backpedaled following widespread public outcry, saying it would now allow up to 7,700 seasonal employees’ jobs to be restored, Neubacher previously told Afar that development “may be too late,” considering the three-month timeframe required to hire and onboard seasonal workers.
Other former NPS employees have noted that the parks may face additional staffing issues because previous applicants found different jobs or decided against working in the federal government during a period of major upheaval.
To make matters more challenging for the NPS, more than 700 NPS employees submitted resignations as part of Elon Musk’s “fork in the road” offer, as reported by the New York Times and other outlets. This offer promises those who leave the federal workforce voluntarily full pay and benefits through September 30, 2025, and employees will not be permitted to work past March 7.
That development has already led to the suspension of tours, reduced operating hours, and limited services across several parks. For example, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in Colorado has announced it will close two days a week due to “lack of staffing.” Park rangers, conservationists, and some U.S. senators also have warned that understaffed parks could lead to neglected maintenance and cleanliness, delayed emergency response times, and less protection for wildlife and cultural sites, increasing the chances of damage, illegal activity, and habitat degradation.
As of the time of reporting, the seven other national parks that require timed entry permits, including Arches and Rocky Mountain, are still accepting reservations for the summer 2025 season or have indicated they will open reservations in the coming days.
Since the mass layoffs, there have been multiple protests by current and former national park employees and outdoor enthusiasts, including at Rocky Mountain National Park and Zion National Park. At Yosemite, a group of protesters also hung a 30-by-50-foot U.S. flag upside down—historically a symbol of dire distress—off the side of El Capitan, the park’s iconic sheer cliff face, on February 22 to raise awareness about the administration’s cuts.
