New Yosemite air freshener smells like wild strawberries, but why?

If you want to know what a national park smells like, head to Yosemite National Park and inhale. Maybe you’ll catch the sweet scent of lupine or the butterscotch aroma of a ponderosa pine. What you are unlikely to smell is wild strawberries -- unless you buy a national park air freshener.

Just in time for National Park Week, which starts Saturday, Air Wick has launched new “limited edition scents” named for the Channel Islands, Yosemite and Biscayne national parks and Gulf Islands National Seashore. Yosemite is described as smelling like “wild strawberries fused with soothing mists of mountain rain.”

I’ve been to Yosemite many times and not once have I been bowled over by a strawberry scent with a twist of mist, unless I was near one of the dining halls. Wild strawberries aren’t common at the park; the plants are found in forested areas at higher elevations.

So much for making sense of the scents. Air Wick does support and partner with the National Park Foundation in creating the line of air fresheners. And if you’re an indoors-outdoors person who needs help choosing, the company has an eight-question Facebook quiz to guide you to your dream faux scent.

For those who want to smell the real deal, all national parklands will waive fees on Saturday and Sunday (which coincides with Easter) to mark the celebration of National Park Week.

Mary.Forgione@latimes.com
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