Yosemite National Park released its first round of summer campground reservations early this week after weeks of delays. The campgrounds with available reservations included Upper Pines, Wawona and Hodgdon Meadow sites.
The next round of reservations will be released on Monday, March 31, for stays from July 15 through August 14.
Other Yosemite campgrounds, including Lower Pines and North Pines, will remain closed until further notice. These reservations will be released at 7 am PDT on Recreation.gov, according to a post from Yosemite National Park’s social media.
The park also announced that they may release further sites if operational capacity allows. In that case, the park will provide at least seven days’ advance notice via the park’s website and social media.
Why the delay?
Yosemite officials first announced the campground reservation delay on the same day one thousand park workers were fired across the nation.
While there hasn’t been an official reason given for the delay, reduced staff in other parks have caused similar limited services. Great Smoky Mountains National Park is also reducing the number of campsites available this summer.
Yosemite is also currently without a superintendent, as Cicely Muldoon announced her retirement in January of this year.
Under Muldoon’s leadership, the park instituted the day-use reservation system. The system allowed visitors to reserve a time slot to enter the park, and helped control the amount of traffic entering and circulating in Yosemite Valley.
As of now, it’s unclear whether that reservation system will be brought back for the 2025 busy season. The program is currently under review of the Trump administration, according to park officials.
