Heading to Yosemite this summer? Expect bigger crowds.

• National parks are preparing for their peak summer visitation season following Memorial Day weekend.
• Yosemite National Park has already seen an increase in visitors this year compared to last year.
• The National Park Service will not require timed entry reservations for Yosemite, Arches or Glacier this summer.

Summer has (un)officially begun in the United States, and national parks across the country are bracing for their peak visitation season.

Yosemite National Park in California, for example, is already seeing an uptick in visitors this year. There were 225,817 recreational visitors to the park in March, according to the National Park Service, compared to 155,758 in March 2025. Things leveled out a bit more in April, when there were 303,860 recreational visitors, compared to 297,621 in April 2025.

Still, the peak months for crowding are yet to come. In July 2025, there were more than 616,000 recreational visitors to Yosemite.

Do I need reservations for Yosemite National Park?

The National Park Service previously required reservations for vehicles to drive through the park during most of the summer, but the Department of the Interior announced in February that that requirement would not be in place for Yosemite, Arches or Glacier national parks for this summer.

The National Park Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment on visitor trends at Yosemite for this summer.

Advocates warned at the time that the decision to do away with timed reservations would likely lead to crowding at the most popular parks.

"If not managed properly, unlimited numbers of cars and people will overwhelm parks," Emily Thompson, executive director of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, said in a statement on Feb. 18. "Large crowds can harm fragile ecosystems, endanger wildlife, jeopardize the ability of parks to respond quickly to emergencies, and stretch already overworked staff to the breaking point. We fear this hazardous decision will cause even more damage at parks that are already struggling to protect resources and provide quality visitor experiences thanks to recent and severe staffing cuts."

Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York and you can reach him at [email protected].