Dealing With The Crowds!

Ok, now lets talk about the crowds of people that come to Yosemite National Park! The busiest times are Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day. I refuse to visit on a Memorial Day ever again! To many people on that particular holiday!

Many people come in the summer because that is when schools are out and families take vacation time. Weekends are busier that week days. You must remember that 90% of visitors never hike a trail...so hiking will get you away from the majority of people.

Walking to lower Yosemite-Falls and to the bridge of Vernal-Falls tends to have the most people on their trails. But everyone goes at their own walking pace and everyone there is wanting a good time.

You will find crowds of people at the free shuttle buses. That is the place where you have to wait. The shuttles only hold so many people. Depending on the number of people in the park, shuttle buses come every 10 to 20 minutes. The more people in the park, the sooner buses come by.

The other place that you have to wait is showers. Showers lines are the longest after dinner in the evenings. So if you want to avoid lines, shower in the morning or afternoon! (Here is my best shower tip: the shower floors are GROSS!!! When you go to take a shower, they give you free towels to use. I always grap two extra towels. I place them on the floor of the shower so that I don't catch the germs of the millions of people that showered before me!)

Cafeteria lines move quickly. Yosemite has done well preparing decent foods and they move food lines quite well.

If you hit a holiday weekend in the summer, you will find a lot of people on the cables going up and down Half-Dome. So try to hike Half-Dome during the week.

Once you get to Yosemite Valley, you park your car and either walk or take the free shuttle buses wherever you want to go. Be patient in finding a parking place. Realize that once you get one, you don't have to move your vehicle until your ready to leave! Memorial Day weekend, July 1-4th and Labor Day will be bumper to bumper traffic.

On July 4th, a lot of people leave the park because they want to see fireworks and there are none allowed in the park. Many people head out and over to Bass Lake. It is 45 minutes away and they have a pretty big firework display over the lake. By July 5th, the crowds of people start to dimish.

Glacier-Point can get crowded in the afternoons on weekends. So if you can get there before lunch or after dinner...there won't be as many people!

To sum it all up: If you can go off season, do it! Avoid Memorial Day, July 1-4 and Labor Day if at all possible. Know that once you get a parking place your lines will really be at the shuttle bus stops.

Going to Yosemite for 45 years on a regular basis, I find that most people are courtious and polite. If at any time the amount of people that you bump into gets to be too much, just find a place to sit down. Anywhere that you sit you will see beautiful granite cliffs and most likely the Merced River or a waterfall! Breathe deeply, relax and remember that you are still in an awesome place!

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