“The park experience that you’re gonna get at Yosemite this summer is something that nobody should have to face,” he said.
Rose said he’s most worried about the Fourth of July, which is also free to enter this year as part of the Trump administration’s changes to fee-free days — which included removing Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth from the list of days on which visitors can enter the park for free.
“So, having it free, having no reservation system in place, having seen what it can be like on Fourth of July in the past? We know it’s gonna be pretty problematic this year,” Rose said.
In a statement, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla echoed advocates’ concerns, calling the Yosemite decision “shortsighted.” Padilla also urged Congress to pass a bill he introduced last year to review reservation systems across all federal lands to make improvements in transparency, usability and fairness.
“With our national park system already strained by Donald Trump’s funding and staffing cuts, this decision will limit outdoor recreation opportunities, degrade the Park’s natural resources, and strain local businesses that rely on a steady stream of Park visitors,” Padilla said.
The view from Yosemite
According to the release, the park’s analysis “found that most weekdays maintained available parking, stable traffic flow and visitation levels within the park’s operational capacity,” NPS’s Gediman said. “These findings indicate that a season-wide reservation requirement is not the most effective approach for 2026.”
But tour guide Barton contested the NPS’s claims that crowds ever truly subside during the summer, even on weekdays.
“Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, there is no such thing as a weekday or a weekend,” she said.
According to the National Parks Conservation Association, visitation to Yosemite increased by more than 30% between 2000 and 2019. And from 2020 to 2024, Rose said staff “fine-tuned” a visitor access management system — one he said was embraced by the public, staff and surrounding communities.
Now, Rose said he’s concerned how data from Yosemite’s 2025 season, when the park was still using vehicle reservations, has been used to justify removing such reservations in 2026. KQED has reached out to NPS for more specifics on the 2025 reservation system.
