Yosemite has a reservation system. Here’s how it works

Yosemite National Park has also instituted a day use pass to enter its park with a vehicle this summer due to coronavirus. How does it work?

First, a person must pay for the entrance fee, if they don’t already have a pass.

Then things get a bit tricky.

Beginning at 7 a.m. Pacific time on the first of each month, 80% of day-use reservations are available for the following month at https://www.recreation.gov/ticket/facility/300015. For example, on July 1 at 7 a.m., day-use reservations for all arrival dates in August will be available.

Then beginning at 7 a.m. Pacific time two days ahead of the day-use reservation date, the remaining 20% of day-use reservations will be available. For example, on July 1 at 7 a.m., day-use reservations for July 3 will be available.

Each user can make one reservation per entry date. You must arrive on the arrival date listed on your reservation. An occupant of the arriving vehicle must have the user (with photo identification) who made the reservation. The reservation is then valid for seven consecutive days (including arrival date).

Right now, for example, dates were still available in mid-August for Yosemite. Weekends fill in faster, it notes. The system doesn’t allow a person to book any further than a month in advance and there are no same-day reservations.

There are some caveats to this. If a visitor enters the park via Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System bus, by bicycle, on foot, or on horseback they do not need a day-use reservation to enter the park. Just park entrance fees apply.

Currently, the park is limiting vehicles to 3,600 per day, which is about a 50% reduction compared to June 2019. The limit is based on the number of parking spaces available in the park, it says on its website. The number of vehicles permitted to enter the park may change as conditions change, the park said.

Yosemite is currently planning to operate this system through October 2020 and will re-evaluate the need for the system based on public health guidance, it says on its website. The day-use vehicle reservation system will no longer be used when the park resumes regular operations, it said.