So I live in SLC and have had a vacation planned for a long time to fly into Fresno, CA then rent a car and stay in Sequoia area for 3 nights then Yosemite for 3 nights. Was going to wine country and SF after but canceled that. Gonna now drive from SLC.

Anyone here from that area hearing about openings for these parks. It's a long drive to not be able to go into the parks...but also I'm kinda like, what else am I gonna do. Watch more Netflix? I can at least do a little road trip...and maybe stop in the Tahoe are on the way back.

Would you go or not? There is also a chance that we time it perfectly and they open right when we get there which could either be really good for crowds or really bad. Thinking good.

Last I saw Tahoe is actively trying to keep visitors out to include fines that may have just been the CA side, not sure.

Jock 07 said:

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Last I saw Tahoe is actively trying to keep visitors out to include fines that may have just been the CA side, not sure.

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I've got an FB friend who lives in Santa Cruz and it's been entertaining to watch her and her friends complain about all the "out of towners" coming to Santa Cruz to use the beach. Stay home, Santa Cruz is for locals only.

California is starting to open up in Counties north of Los Angeles. In the Central Valley, you should be good but, I don't know about the status of the National Parks. Mtn Guide would probably know more, especially around Tahoe. I think he lives just on the Nevada side.

I'm permitted in both Sequoia NP and Yosemite.

Neither park is open yet and they are currently working on a reopening plan. Most of the park, while open is impassable. Hwy 120 through Yosemite is still closed from winter snow. Though that usually doesn't open until all the park facilities in Tuolomne are open.

Inyo National Forest, which is the access from the eastside to both of the parks reopens on June 1st.

DM me as you get closer and I can give you more up to date info.

So the Nevada side of Tahoe is open for anyone with green dollar bills. You can't go out on the lake in a motorboat unless you have a Tahoe Only Tag. That's keeping a lot of the boaters away.

The town of South Lake has some limited opening but for the most part, is not tourist-friendly at the moment

Truckee, just north of the lake, is trying to split the baby. They are open, but they are telling people to stay away.

Excellent info! Thank you for that.

We have an airbnb in Three Rivers for 3 nights and a staying in the Airstream AutoCamp just inside Yosemite in Midpines for 3 nights. Even if we can't access the parks I guess there are worse places to be. Just gonna be a bit disappointing if we can't access the parks. I'm sure there are other places you can explore and hike in those areas though?

If it doesn't reopen in time I can give you some suggestions of places that you can take your airstream that are open and almost as good as the parks you were looking at.

Mtn_Guide said:

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If it doesn't reopen in time I can give you some suggestions of places that you can take your airstream that are open and almost as good as the parks you were looking at.

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Sweet. Thank you so much for that offer. We actually aren't hauling the Airstream. It's fixed in an Airstream park...multiple ones. A company owns them and rents them out. But I will take any and all advice on where we can go to explore otherwise.

SkiMo said:

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Mtn_Guide said:

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If it doesn't reopen in time I can give you some suggestions of places that you can take your airstream that are open and almost as good as the parks you were looking at.

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Sweet. Thank you so much for that offer. We actually aren't hauling the Airstream. It's fixed in an Airstream park...multiple ones. A company owns them and rents them out. But I will take any and all advice on where we can go to explore otherwise.

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wow interesting...i never heard of an airstream park...i will need to look into this. we are interested in getting an airstream but not that familiar with them. this could be a good way to get familiar with one. Thanks.

Bachelor99 said:

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SkiMo said:

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Mtn_Guide said:

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If it doesn't reopen in time I can give you some suggestions of places that you can take your airstream that are open and almost as good as the parks you were looking at.

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Sweet. Thank you so much for that offer. We actually aren't hauling the Airstream. It's fixed in an Airstream park...multiple ones. A company owns them and rents them out. But I will take any and all advice on where we can go to explore otherwise.

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wow interesting...i never heard of an airstream park...i will need to look into this. we are interested in getting an airstream but not that familiar with them. this could be a good way to get familiar with one. Thanks.

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Here's more info on the Yosemite one...

https://autocamp.com/guides/location/yosemite/

They have others in Russian River and Cape Cod.

That is super hip

SkiMo said:

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Mtn_Guide - any good tips on making sure we're able to get one of those 50% of the Yosemite passes?

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Get there early. Like camp in the car early.

Marauder Blue 6 said:

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SkiMo said:

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Mtn_Guide - any good tips on making sure we're able to get one of those 50% of the Yosemite passes?

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Get there early. Like camp in the car early.

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What I'm reading is that no passes on the day of will be issued. You must purchase at least 48 hours to 30 days ahead. But you can't buy tickets right now online. Frustrating.

SkiMo said:

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Yosemite is only going to be allowing 50% of normal park capacity. If we can score one of those passes each day then this will be amazing. Especially since our two full days there will be on a Monday & Tuesday which will hopefully cut down on local visitors.

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Honestly you want more local vistors than tourist, they actually know how to get around a park. It's going to be full either way.

The Lost said:

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SkiMo said:

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Yosemite is only going to be allowing 50% of normal park capacity. If we can score one of those passes each day then this will be amazing. Especially since our two full days there will be on a Monday & Tuesday which will hopefully cut down on local visitors.

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Honestly you want more local vistors than tourist, they actually know how to get around a park. It's going to be full either way.

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Oh I know... my point was that traffic in general should be less on Monday/Tuesday. Weekends you're always going to have both local and tourist. But I think the tourist will be down quite a bit because people had to cancel vacations. All of the hotels in Yosemite have canceled all reservations with refunds up until June 10th as of now.

I read this morning that Yosemite is looking at trying to open on June 10th, so that lines up with what SkiMo is saying

If you have lodging booked in the park you will not need an additional reservation to enter the park (I confirmed that with Aramark, the concessionaire for the park, yesterday)

SkiMo said:

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The Lost said:

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SkiMo said:

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Yosemite is only going to be allowing 50% of normal park capacity. If we can score one of those passes each day then this will be amazing. Especially since our two full days there will be on a Monday & Tuesday which will hopefully cut down on local visitors.

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Honestly you want more local vistors than tourist, they actually know how to get around a park. It's going to be full either way.

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Oh I know... my point was that traffic in general should be less on Monday/Tuesday. Weekends you're always going to have both local and tourist. But I think the tourist will be down quite a bit because people had to cancel vacations. All of the hotels in Yosemite have canceled all reservations with refunds up until June 10th as of now.

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Depends on what you consider local vs. tourist. You have a lot of people within a 4-5 hour drive who go regularly and haven't been able to for weeks. What should really help is not having busloads of foreigners.

SkiMo said:

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I may have super lucked out...especially after planning this all last year.

Sequoia/Kings National Parks are set to open June 4th - we arrive June 11th

Yosemite is now set to open around June 10th - we arrive June 14th

Yosemite is only going to be allowing 50% of normal park capacity. If we can score one of those passes each day then this will be amazing. Especially since our two full days there will be on a Monday & Tuesday which will hopefully cut down on local visitors.

Mtn_Guide - any good tips on making sure we're able to get one of those 50% of the Yosemite passes?

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Unfortunately, I don't have any tips. This pass system is new to us and the commercial contractors operate on a completely different system. My company in particular operates under what's called di minimus use so we don't count against the 50% cap.

Over the weekend Sequoia wiped all existing reservations from their system which made me mad. Luckily i was able to book one of the national forest campgrounds (princess) right outside the national park which i can live with.

Yosemite is making me sweat it, I'm worried they are going to cancel my existing Hodgdon Meadow reservation. Yosemite was supposed to be the highlight and ultimate destination for my families two week road trip from Houston. I'm going to do everything humanly possible to keep it in the itinerary so I'm not devestated.

Sequoia only canceled reservations beginning prior to June 25. You scared me - we are scheduled for the end of July.

www.visitsequoia.com/covid-19-updates

I would blow my stack if Aramark canceled our Yosemite reservations. I was just on the phone with them on Tuesday and did not get the impression that would happen. If they were going to do that, I would think they would stop allowing reservations to be made bit they have not freeze being able to get reservations, but they are still open and available to book.

Sorry for the scare.

They did cancel ALL camping reservations. Looks like you are staying at a lodge and they are handling that differently. This all make me so frustrated. Who the hell is going to get COVID-19 while camping?

I totally agree....parks not allowing camping has been, perhaps, the most bizarre outcome of the entire COVID situation

Dayum! $400 to stay in a trailer? They do look super swanky though.

I'm interested to see how all the newbie trailer/motorhomes folks do in the parks , and the getting around. There's supposed to be like a huge uptick in these rookies this summer.

You are correct....sales are exploding as are rentals....RVShare's business, as of about two weeks ago, was up 1,000%.

while this has been planned for some time, but accelerated because of Covid sales, we bought a truck the other day and I plan on some mods to get it ready to take us camping this summer in CO (if we don't hit Alaska). I didn't really need a RV, just a tent. My wife disagreed. Not the first time she hated me, won't be the last!

That is awesome. One of our bucket list items is driving up the Alaska Highway!

Yosemite Update just posted:

https://www.nps.gov/yose/learn/news/yosemite-national-park-continues-a-phased-reopening-on-thursday-june-11-2020.htm

Lodging reservations were not wiped clean

Will require day use reservations unless you have lodging reservations, Half Dome permit, etc.

AgRyan04 said:

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Yosemite Update just posted:

https://www.nps.gov/yose/learn/news/yosemite-national-park-continues-a-phased-reopening-on-thursday-june-11-2020.htm

Lodging reservations were not wiped clean

Will require day use reservations unless you have lodging reservations, Half Dome permit, etc.

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Just came here to post this. Woohoo! I don't know if where I'm staying technically counts as inside the park so I will be trying to purchase right when it becomes available tomorrow morning.

A week or two ago, I had to do the day pass reservations for Rocky Mountain NP.

There were separate options in the drop down depending on if you have a NP annual pass or not so make sure to grab the right one.

If you do have an annual pass, you will need to enter the number off of it so have that handy.

If you do not have an annual pass, do not buy one online thinking you can use it immediately. It is purchased through USGS.gov and they do not give you your number upon purchase, you have to wait until the card comes in the mail to get your number.

You cannot apply an annual pass to a day pass reservation after the fact.

Kind of a crappy circumstance.

Good luck!

I was able to book a day pass to Yosemite this morning that will allow me entry into the park for 7 days. It sounds like most people had problems with the system and some are still trying but it's hard to tell if it is because of technical issues or just scarcity. I'm very happy to say the least as if I didn't get a day pass I was either going to have to cancel our two week family road trip or shell out $1000 to stay at an AirBnB in the park that would have guaranteed me entry.

I also booked a tent site at an RV park 1 hour from the valley since I assume my existing reservation at Hodgdon Meadows is going to get cancelled. Not how I envisioned my trip but maybe their will be a silver lining of being able to access Yosemite in the middle of the summer with significantly reduced crowds.

I was able to get my day pass as well. I started right at 7am when they became available. It stalled out quite a few times and gave me some weird errors but eventually I got it. So beyond pumped! Our place opens up the 11th, we get there the 14th, and Tioga Road opens the 15th. Timing couldn't have been better. And as an added bonus, Sequoia is free right now.

That is awesome that you both were able to get the day entries. I like that it's a 7 day pass, RMNP did each day separately and charged for each day.


I did get an email tonight from Aramark that White Wolf Lodge in Yosemite is NOT opening for the season. So FYI if that affects you.