PEAK HOURS

Yosemite now required day-use reservations

People who want to visit Yosemite National Park now must buypeak-hour reservations for this summer. Peak-hour reservations are required of all visitors who enter the park between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m., seven days a week, for the 19 weeks from May 20 to Sept. 30. Each reservation is valid for three days, for one vehicle and the occupants of that vehicle. Each peak-hour reservation is supposed to cost $2 per vehicle, nonrefundable, and it does not include entrance fees of $35 per vehicle for three days or $70 for an annual pass. Peak-hour reservations are available only online. Unlike reservation requirements last year and in 2020, this summer the system will reward early arrivers to the park every single day of the week. “A reservation is not required to drive into the park before 6 a.m. or after 4 p.m.,” a Yosemite National Park webpage states, under the heading Visiting Without a Reservation. “If you enter through an entrance station before or after peak hours, you can remain in the park during peak hours.” During peak hours, reservations will be required for all users, including drive-through visitors, annual pass holders and lifetime pass holders, except for National Public Lands Day on Sept. 24, when entrance fees will be waived. Peak-hours reservations are supposed to be included with lodging reservations and campground reservations for visitors staying overnight in the park. This includes reservations for The Ahwahnee Hotel, Yosemite Valley Lodge, Curry Village, Wawona Hotel, Housekeeping Camp, and National Park Service-managed campgrounds. Peak-hours reservations are also supposed to be included with wilderness and Half Dome permits, and for visitors who enter the park on Yosemite Area Regional Transit System buses and on permitted commercial tours. Everyone still needs to pay the usual entrance fees, either $35 per vehicle for three days or $70 for an annual pass. The primary goal of the new peak hours reservation system is to help spread visitation out around the clock and reduce chronic congestion in the busiest parts of the park, especially Yosemite Valley. For more information visit www.nps.gov/ yose/planyourvisit/faq.htm online.