Shocking video shows HUGE queue of traffic waiting to enter Yosemite as tourists compare it to LA
The ugly side of a beauty spot! Shocking Video Shows HUGE Line of Cars Waiting to Enter Yosemite After National Park Dumps Its Reservation System — With Furious Tourists Comparing It to ‘Sitting on the 101 in LA’
- Shocking footage shared on Twitter shows hundreds of cars lining up to enter Yosemite National Park
- Traffic jams form outside the park early in the morning and even visitors who do go in are warned that there is no place to park
- This summer, for the first time since the pandemic, the national park will not have a reservation system
Shocking video shows a giant line of traffic waiting to enter Yosemite National Park, as waiting tourists compare it to “sitting on the 101.”
This is the first summer since the pandemic that the National Park Service has shut down its reservation system.
Traffic jams to enter the park are said to take several hours and visitors arriving later than 8am are told there is no room for them to park even if they do eventually enter.
The L.A. Times reported that cars are being reported for illegal parking in lanes, on grass and between rocks.
Footage shared on social media from one line outside the park shows hundreds of vehicles bumper to bumper across a stretch of road.
The line of cars seems almost endless in the accelerated footage shared on social media
This image, shared by the National Park Service, shows just how busy the trails to the park can be
The park service’s latest update on their Facebook page says there is a two-hour backup for lines to enter the park.
Their first update this morning also says that within 13 minutes of opening, the parking lot at the Curry Village resort was already full.
Al Malecha, the first visitor, was on her way to the park with her friends from Juneteenth when traffic came to a halt 80 miles from the valley.
Instead of getting into their vehicle, the group decided to get out of the car and walk around while the traffic came to a standstill.
Talking to the LA times, said Malecha: ‘You saw a lot of other people in their cars doing the same, just because we had been idling for so long. I think people were running out of gas.”
Beth Pratt, the regional director of California’s National Wildlife Federation, also told the paper, “I feel sorry for these people. I want people to like parks.
“When you come to Yosemite and it’s like being on the 101 in LA, you’re not coming back.
“I want people to love these parks, and we want them to have a national park experience — that’s not about traffic and parking.”
Park visitors move along a trail adjacent to Ahwahnee Meadows, under Half Dome, in Yosemite last month
The picturesque national park has been compared to Highway 101, pictured here in San Francisco earlier this month
Horsetail Fall, one of the park’s many attractions, shines during the Firefall event in Yosemite on Saturday, February 20, 2021
Advisory on the National Park Service website asks people to go to the park on weekdays rather than weekends to avoid congestion and delays.
A recent social media post reads, “Reservations are not required to visit Yosemite this year.
Reservations were required in the summers of 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic and in the summer of 2022, when numerous major visitor attractions were closed for repairs to critical infrastructure.
“We have been struggling with traffic congestion and even traffic congestion for decades. We want to build on the lessons learned from the past three summers of managed access.”