Spur of the moment day trip plans to Yosemite? No problem! Yosemite National Park will be doing away with its day-use reservation system in November.
Since June, there has been a capacity-management policy to help with social distancing due to the pandemic. However, starting November 1, visitors will no longer need to prebook a $35-per-vehicle pass to enter the national park, said the National Park Service.
The park posted a photo on Instagram of a beautiful mountainous scene within the park. They captioned the photo, “Day use reservations will be in place through the month of October. To secure a day-use reservation, please visit www.recreation.gov. Day use passes will not be necessary for entrance into Yosemite National Park beginning on November 1, 2020.”
The acting Superintendent Cicely Muldoon also made a statement thanking visitors for adapting with the times.
“We would like to extend our gratitude to all park visitors and our local communities for their support of our modified operations this summer. With the health and safety of park visitors and employees guiding our decisions, we were thrilled to welcome thousands of visitors to Yosemite this summer.”
National Park Reservation System
When park officials made the day-use reservation system, only 3,600 vehicles could be within the park. This number is roughly 50 percent of what capacity was at last year. Park rangers said that the passes sold out “within seconds” daily.
Due to visitor attendance lowering in the colder months, the park will not use the reservation system throughout the fall and winter.
“Based on the recommendation of our local and federal public health officials, conditions have improved. So we are able to maintain safe conditions while removing the day-use reservation system,” NPS Yosemite spokeswoman Jamie Richards.
On the other hand, the national park opened up last week after a weeklong closure due to significant smoke throughout the park linked to the California wildfires.
[H/T Fox News]
