Yosemite tips

The roads around Yosemite National Park are a driving utopia – these routes carve through expansive backcountry, sublime valleys and pretty meadows, and loop by deep gorges dotted with emerald-green forests, shimmering lakes and ancient sequoias.

From the moment you arrive, Yosemite dazzles with its natural good looks. One of America’s most iconic national parks and its third oldest, it captivates with myriad waterfalls, sky-grazing sequoias, gemstone-hued lakes, subalpine wilderness areas and granite cliffs and buttresses, like El Capitan and Half Dome.

Yosemite, established in 1864, is a superstar of the National Park System for good reason. A visit, whether you stay in well-connected Yosemite Valley or head out into the vast wilderness, is a humbling experience. 

A dramatic area crammed with goose-bump-inducing vistas, shimmering lakes, towering waterfalls, soaring striped granite boulders, and vast emerald-green forests, Yosemite National Park is a beacon for the world’s hiking community.

Yosemite National Park is one of those dazzling, large-than-life destinations with a beauty that must be seen firsthand to truly appreciate it.

A major winter storm has closed Yosemite National Park and is bringing other parts of the Sierra Nevada region to a full stop.  Meteorologists are forecasting some areas of the region, including Lake Tahoe, to receive at least 12 feet of snow, or higher, as the system slowly moves through mountainous regions.  Other parts of the region including Mammoth Lakes, the Sierra National Forest, and Yosemite National Park receive severe winter storms and advise the public to stay off the roads. The National Weather Service (NWS) has already placed most of the region on an Avalanche Watch, Avalanche Warning, and Blizzard Warning through at least March 3 at 10:00 am PST.  Yosemite National Park officials have already closed the park, and are asking all visitors currently in the park to «leave no later than noon» today, according to the park's website.  “A significant winter storm will impact much of the West heading into the weekend, including dangerous, blizzard conditions for the Sierra Nevada,” the NWS shared in an advisory.  In response to the upcoming storm, airlines have begun issuing travel waivers to accommodate the rebooking of passengers. United Airlines has issued a travel waiver for several airports in the region including Aspen/Pitkin County Airport (ASE) in Aspen, Colorado; Eagle County Regional Airport (EGE) near Vail, Colorado; Yampa Valley Regional Airport (HDN) near Steamboat Springs, Colorado; and Jackson Hole Airport (JAC) in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

A federal grand jury indicted a California man accused of stealing a Yosemite National Park ranger's vehicle and leading a "high-speed chase" before driving off a cliff.

Yosemite National Park is bringing back its reservation system. During peak times next year, travelers won’t be able to enter the park without a reservation, the National Park Service said Wednesday.

Nestled deep in the Sierra Nevada mountains, Yosemite National Park is one of the most amazing places in California. There are legendary hikes, jaw-dropping scenic vistas, and wildlife galore. It is also one of the most visited national parks, with nearly 3.7 million visitors each year. That’s a lot, but even more so when you consider it’s barely visited at all in the winter. Almost all those people are also funneled into a relatively narrow valley, it can get quite crowded.

Yosemite National Park will not have a reservation system for the summer of 2023 and will embark on a process of gathering community input as whether it should to reinstate it in the future. Yosemite put a reservation system in place for two years because of the pandemic and continued it because of park construction projects. But the reservation requirement set off a chain of consequences for local communities, including traffic jams because cars weren’t allowed to drive through the park.

A hotel near Yosemite National Park is trading trash for spa treatments by pampering guests who volunteer to clean up the park.

Yosemite National Park, perhaps more than any other, is responsible for the broader vision of wilderness conservation in this country, thanks to a Scottish immigrant named John Muir who fell in love with this land, fought to protect its natural wonders and, in the process, founded the Sierra Club.