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The most popular national park in California closed itself off in March 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Yosemite National Park would go on to remain in a state of restricted access through June 2020 until it opened back up step-by-step in months to safely welcome its enthusiastic annual visitors.
As a result of the national shutdowns, the United States National Parks Service took measures to restrict access to the parks. Recommendations of washing hands and social distancing already were being made while people were still allowed to visit the parks. However, at the same time, the Secretary of the Interior announced that fees were being waived for those visiting the parks with the suggestion that those who are elderly and immunocompromised be careful.
At Yosemite National Park, the story was different. The park indefinitely ended access including around the clock enforcement of the closing. In accordance with national health guidelines, officials at Yosemite also advised social distancing and hand-washing.
The health and safety of our visitors, employees, volunteers, and partners at Yosemite National Park is our number one priority,
stated the park’s March 2020 press release.
It wasn’t until later that June that Yosemite National Park introduced the day pass reservation system. The system was in place to limit the number of guests to the park as one could only visit if they had a day pass made through Yosemite’s online reservation system. The reservation system was used through November of 2020 after which the park was opened up again. However, the system was reimplemented in the summer in 2021 when some of the largest periods of park visitation take place.
Visitor numbers to the national parks dipped in 2020 with the various restrictions and closures implemented by the different State and National Parks Departments, along with general Covid-19 quarantining. Visitation for the year dropped by 25.7% from 2019 to 2020, according to data obtained from the National Parks Service.
In comparison, Yosemite National Park experienced a drop of 50% when it comes to visitation from almost 4.2 million visitors in 2019 to just over 2 million in 2020. As the park opened up, members of the public began to flood in.
Many campgrounds and facilities will still be closed because of the Covid-19 pandemic as cases continue to fluctuate. Yosemite officials even decided that some of the more frequented campgrounds will require something other than reservations. Piloting a lottery system for the campground, the limited access to the park that was established out of necessity at the start of the pandemic may continue to function at Yosemite. Whether this affects visitation is still to be determined as Yosemite National Park continues to be an incredibly popular spot to visit in California.