Big Crowd Of People Ok, now lets talk about the big crowd 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 come to Yosemite Memorial Day. But lets face it...the Yosemite climate is very nice from spring through the fall. You will find the big crowd of people in Yosemite National Park in the summer, weekends and holidays. Summer is when schools are out and families take vacation time. Weekends are always busier than weekdays. You must remember that 90% of visitors never hike a trail...so go hiking to get 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. So to get away from the crowds, hike to the top of these waterfalls. Everyone who hikes goes at their own pace and everyone who comes to Yosemite is out for a good time. You will always find a big crowd of people at the free shuttle bus stops. To get on a shuttle, you have to wait and 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 the showers. Showers lines are the longest after dinner in the evenings. So if you want to avoid a big crowd of people, 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 grab 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 at Curry Village and the Lodge move quickly. Yosemite National Park has done well preparing decent foods and moving food lines quite well. 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. Finding a parking place can sometimes take an hour. Realize that once you get a parking space, you don't have to move your vehicle until your ready to leave. Memorial Day weekend, July 1-4th and Labor Day always have bumper to bumper traffic. On these holidays it can take hours to enter and exit Yosemite. On July 4th, a lot of people leave Yosemite because they want to see fireworks and they are none allowed in the park. Many people head out and over to Bass Lake. Bass Lake is 45 minutes away and they have a pretty big firework display over the lake. By July 5th, the crowds of people in Yosemite start to diminish. Glacier Point can get a big crowd of people in the afternoons on the weekends. So if you can get there before lunch or after dinner...you won't see as many people. To sum it all up: If you can come to Yosemite National Park 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 the lines that you will be forced to deal with will be at the shuttle bus stops. Going to Yosemite for 46 years on a regular basis, I find that most people are courteous 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! Return From Big Crowd Of People To The Home Page
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