Yosemite descends into all out chaos after subtle rule change

Visitors hoping for peaceful mountain views at Yosemite National Park instead found themselves trapped in bumper-to-bumper traffic, circling packed parking lots and waiting in massive lines after the park quietly ditched its reservation systems.

Drivers reportedly sat in traffic for more than 90 minutes just to get into the park over the weekend, while social media posts showed massive crowds flooding Yosemite Valley — with long lines leading to the summit of Half Dome.

“Gridlock. Cars everywhere. People everywhere. No parking. No space,” visitor Lorena Calvillo wrote on Yosemite National Park’s official Facebook page.

Another visitor, Richard Smekal, posted photos showing a human traffic jam forming on the famous Half Dome cables.

“The line was a continuous stream of people, barely moving — basically at a standstill,” Smekal wrote.

The scenes come after the Trump administration scrapped Yosemite’s time-entry reservation system earlier this year following cuts to the National Park Service staffing levels.

“We are committed to visitor access, safety, and resource protection,” Yosemite Superintendent Ray McPadden said while defending the move away from reservations.

Critics say the park is already slipping back into the traffic nightmare that once overwhelmed Yosemite Valley during peak tourist season.

“I spent over an hour stuck in traffic leaving the park, and exiting felt more like leaving a major sporting event than it did visiting a national park,” said Mark Rose, Sierra Nevada senior program manager for the National Parks Conservation Assn.

California’s national parks shattered visitation records in 2025, with Yosemite accounting for more than a quarter of the state’s 12 million visitors.

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters