Yosemite Valley Fills Parking Before 11am, and It’s Not Even Summer Yet
Full parking lots don’t bode well for the busy summer season. What to do to prepare for your visit.
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YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — Yosemite National Park reached parking capacity in Yosemite Valley before 11 a.m. Saturday, May 3rd, weeks before the start of peak summer visitation.
All parking in Yosemite Valley was full by 10:59 a.m. on May 2, prompting park officials to issue an alert advising visitors to avoid the area. About 90 minutes later, parking at Hetch Hetchy also reached capacity. Traffic at the park’s south entrance on Highway 41 was backed up for approximately 90 minutes.
The early May congestion is notable because the park’s busiest season typically runs from June through August, when monthly visitation often exceeds 500,000 people. Saturday’s crowding occurred during the spring shoulder season.
No Reservations Required: A Test of the New System
The weekend also marked an early test of park operations without a reservation system. In February, the Trump administration announced that visitors would no longer need reservations to enter Yosemite, Arches National Park or Glacier National Park. Officials said the change was intended to improve public access.
Yosemite Superintendent Ray McPadden has defended the decision, saying a parkwide reservation system was an overreaction to congestion that primarily affected Yosemite Valley parking on select summer Saturdays. He said the park would instead rely on real-time traffic management, increased staffing and efforts to direct visitors to less crowded areas.
Former superintendent Cicely Muldoon, who helped develop the reservation policy before retiring, previously warned that Yosemite Valley has fixed limits on vehicle capacity.
Park officials are encouraging visitors to arrive early, use public transportation when possible and avoid driving between destinations once inside the valley.
For those planning trips this summer, officials recommend visiting on weekdays and during early morning hours to avoid peak congestion.
Critics Say the New No-Reservation System Will Not Be Good for the Park or Its Visitors
Critics of the policy change say the early congestion reflects deeper structural limits inside Yosemite Valley. According to the National Parks Conservation Association, the valley’s roads, parking areas and infrastructure cannot expand to meet peak demand, meaning increased visitation without a reservation system will likely result in longer entrance lines, gridlocked traffic and reduced access to key sites.
The organization has said reservation systems helped spread visitation more evenly throughout the day and across different areas of the park, improving both safety and the overall visitor experience. Without that system, they warn that visitors may spend more time waiting in traffic than recreating, while increased congestion could also strain park staff and resources. The group argues that managed entry tools like reservations are essential for balancing public access with preservation in heavily visited national parks.
Sources:
- San Francisco Chronicle
- National Parks Conservation Association
