In a recent series of Twitter posts, Yosemite National Park recently announced it would not require park visitors to make reservations for summer 2023. This reverses course from the years 2020 and 2021, when the park and many others instilled a reservation system due in large part to the pandemic, which critically increased the number of people heading into the parks in search of open air space and a safe area to recreate. The reservation system continued into the summer of 2022 due to infrastructure repairs.
Reservations will not be required to visit Yosemite National Park during summer of 2023. Reservations were required in the summers of 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic and in summer 2022 when numerous key visitor attractions were closed for critical infrastructure repairs. 1/3
— Yosemite National Park (@YosemiteNPS) November 15, 2022
In the tweet, the park recognized the overwhelming congestion, a problem that has been happening for "decades." The Twitter account for Yosemite National Park wrote, "We want to build from the lessons learned from the last three summers of managed access. 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."
The announcement comes after other national parks had shifted away from reservation systems earlier this fall.
However, the announcement was immediately criticized by a good number of Twitter users who favor the reservation system. One wrote about their recent trip and how much they enjoyed it, all thanks to the reservation system. The replying tweet stated, "The reservation system provided us the most epic trip to Yosemite, not a single picture had a touron in it, no traffic, no lines, peace, and quiet everywhere within the park. We enjoyed the park as it is meant to be enjoyed. I vote reservation system becomes permanent..." Another agreed, writing this about a June, 2022 visit, "Oh no, don't get rid of the reservation system! I visited Yosemite for the first time in June, and everyone warned me that it would be overcrowded and difficult to navigate. But because of the reservation system, that was not the case, and we had the chance to enjoy this park."
One commenter compared visiting for an event when there were reservations to a time when there were not, writing, "As someone who frequents YNP, the reservation system should be kept for popular times. I went to two diff years for the Firefall event and this year had no res - was by far the most crowded I've seen the park. This caused environmental damage as people parked anywhere they could."
That comment coincided with the second most popular request, to bring the shuttle busses back or move to a shuttle-only system. Only time will tell what the park will eventually do, but concerned visitors should look out for the December announcement to officially share input with the park.
Overcrowding in certain national parks has indeed been an on-going issue. According to the National Park Service (NPS), 25 of the 423 national natural sites saw more than half of the 297.1 million visits in 2021. Alternatively, the NPS includes a plethora of less-visited parks and monuments, all of which can be enjoyed with a better chance of avoiding large crowds.
