Yosemite drops day‑use pass

Yosemite National Park will not require advance vehicle reservations in 2026, ending the timed-entry system it used in recent peak seasons. (nps.gov) The park announced the change on February 18, 2026, after reviewing 2025 traffic patterns, parking availability, and visitor-use data. Yosemite said most weekdays stayed within operational capacity, with available parking and stable traffic flow. (nps.gov) Instead of timed entry, Yosemite said it will rely on real-time traffic monitoring, active parking management in Yosemite Valley, extra staffing at key intersections, and alerts about road conditions and congestion. Park officials also said they will push visitors toward weekdays and destinations outside Yosemite Valley, including Tuolumne Meadows, Wawona, and Hetch Hetchy. (nps.gov) The shift comes after Yosemite spent years testing ways to control crowding. Its visitor access management plan says the park has faced rapid growth in day-use visitation, road and parking congestion, delayed emergency response, unsafe conditions, vegetation damage from illegal parking, and human waste along roads and lots. (nps.gov) That same plan says the goal of reservation systems was to pace vehicle volume into the park, reduce overcrowding and traffic, and protect natural and cultural resources while keeping access equitable. Yosemite used reservation-system lessons from 2020 through 2022 and again in 2024 as part of that planning process. (nps.gov) The National Park Service framed Yosemite’s move as part of a broader 2026 access policy at several crowded parks. In a February 18, 2026, national release, the agency said Arches and Glacier also dropped broad timed-entry requirements, while Rocky Mountain will keep timed entry from late May through mid-October. (nps.gov) That release also said Yosemite will skip reservations even during the February-to-March firefall period, when demand has surged in recent years. If roads or parking lots hit capacity, the park said it may use short-term traffic diversions and other temporary controls instead. (nps.gov) The backdrop is a park system still handling huge crowds. The National Park Service reported 323 million recreation visits across the system in 2025, down 2.7 percent from the record year in 2024, when 26 reporting parks set annual visitation records. (nps.gov) Yosemite is also making the change as the Trump administration’s fiscal year 2027 budget proposes cuts to the National Park Service. The Department of the Interior’s budget documents say the request would reduce National Park Service funding while prioritizing park operations, law enforcement, visitor services, and facility operations. (whitehouse.gov; doi.gov) For visitors, the practical rule is simple: no entrance reservation is required in Yosemite in 2026, but the entrance fee still applies, and the park is warning people to expect the heaviest congestion from spring through fall and to arrive before 9 a.m. or after 5 p.m. when possible. (nps.gov)