Starting 8 a.m. PT (11 a.m. ET) Wednesday, Yosemite’s reservation system will be live for visitors to secure their entry in peak season.
From May 20 to September 30, all park visitors will need a reservation to enter between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. This is for weekdays as well as weekends.
Be ready to move fast
Yosemite advises people to have their Recreation.gov accounts already established and “be logged in and ready to get a reservation promptly at 8 a.m. Pacific daylight time.”
A nonrefundable reservation fee is $2 is charged, and it does not include the $35-a-car park entrance fee.
People who already have reservations for in-park camping, lodging or wilderness permits don’t need to make an additional entry reservation.
Early planning is the national park key
This is the same story at many of the other marquee national parks. If you want to visit a popular park this summer, it’s already time to plan.
One strategy: See the least-visited parks
A brown bear rests along a river in Katmai National Park, Alaska. This is one park where you are unlikely to be competing with tourists for a spot.
Paul Souders/Adobe Stock
If you get shut of the marquee names such as Yellowstone, Yosemite and Glacier, consider one of their lesser-visited cousins. Some ideas:
Top image: Visitors admire Yosemite Falls in Yosemite National Park. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)