Yosemite’s Attendance Climbed in 2025 and Dropping Reservations Could Send 2026 Even Higher
Yosemite National Park welcomed more than 4.2 million visitors in 2025, a jump of 156,000 over the previous year and enough to make it the park’s fourth-busiest year on record, according to newly released National Park Service data.
That puts Yosemite behind only 2016, 2019 and 2017 in terms of all-time attendance. It also pushed the park past Rocky Mountain National Park to become the fifth most visited in the country, trailing Great Smoky Mountains, Zion, Yellowstone and Grand Canyon.
The numbers are especially notable given the turbulence the park dealt with throughout the year. During the longest government shutdown in U.S. history last fall, roughly half of Yosemite’s staff was furloughed, leaving a skeleton crew to manage one of the most popular outdoor destinations in the world. Illegal base jumping, unpermitted climbing, unauthorized camping and drone use all spiked during that stretch.
Search-and-rescue operations also hit their highest mark since 2018, with at least 235 incidents logged in 2025. Park officials attributed the increase to the sheer volume of visitors rather than any single cause, noting that SAR activity tends to rise in step with attendance.
Looking ahead, visitation could climb even higher in 2026. Yosemite announced earlier this year that it’s dropping its timed entry reservation system, which had been used in previous seasons to manage overcrowding. Instead, the park plans to rely on parking management, additional personnel at busy intersections and real-time traffic monitoring during peak periods.
Yosemite sits just four hours from San Francisco and six from Los Angeles, making it one of the most accessible major parks in the country. That proximity, combined with iconic landmarks like El Capitan and Half Dome, continues to draw millions of visitors each year, with June through August remaining the busiest window.
