“We’ve never seen anything like it,” Ms. Williams, who has been visiting Yosemite several times each year since 2018, wrote in an email. Parking areas were full by 7 a.m. on weekdays, and shuttle buses were “stacked up three deep with no room for anyone to board,” she said.
“Timed entry wasn’t perfect, but it was better than nothing,” Ms. Williams added.
Yosemite managers eliminated the reservation system in February after a study last year found that it was “not the most effective approach for the coming season,” Superintendent Ray McPadden said in a statement announcing the changes.
Mr. McPadden said that Yosemite would rely on a network of in-road traffic sensors, additional staffing during peak periods, rangers stationed at key intersections and parking lots, a text alert system, and other tools to manage crowds. Glacier has begun a pilot shuttle program to Logan Pass and will put a three-hour parking limit in place there starting July 1. Arches plans to impose temporary access restrictions at overcrowded sites, while Mount Rainier’s superintendent, Gregory Dudgeon, said in a February statement that the park would continue using “proven traffic and parking management strategies.”
Still, said Don Neubacher, who served as Yosemite’s superintendent from 2010 to 2016, “The damage is going to increase, visitor enjoyment is going to go down and crowding is going to get worse.”