Light Turnout : Yosemite--Where’s the Crowd?

After weeks of warnings about massive traffic jams and roadblocks to restrict access, visitors to Yosemite National Park on Saturday found the roads clear, parking difficult but possible and lines noticeably shorter than on past holiday weekends.

“It’s like the Olympics,” said Alan Richmond, spokesman for the Yosemite Park and Curry Co., which runs park concessions. “Everybody said, ‘Don’t come,’ and they didn’t.”

About 12,000 visitors arrived Saturday in 4,199 vehicles compared to 21,000 in 7,525 vehicles a year ago.

Park officials attributed the unusually light holiday turnout to widespread publicity about anticipated overcrowding and traffic congestion and a 10-day-old strike by about 100 bus drivers, garage and maintenance workers.

Earlier Warning

Officials announced earlier this month that motorists without confirmed reservations would be denied access to Yosemite Valley after 5,900 vehicles had been counted entering the park. Rangers were to staff checkpoints and reroute visitors to less popular spots in the 1,189-square-mile park.

“People hear the word restrictions , and a big red flag goes up,” Richmond said. “It’s like saying plague. I prefer to call it traffic management, not restrictions.”

Although the plan was not put into effect Saturday, park officials warned they would be ready to gear up again today if the number of vehicles reached the limit.

“Traditionally, Sunday has been busier,” said park spokeswoman Lisa Dapprich.

Last year, traffic came to a standstill for several hours over Memorial Day weekend. Trips that usually took 10 minutes by car stretched into an hour and a half in the valley congestion.

Nearly 78,000 visitors arrived in 20,600 vehicles last year during the three days compared to an average of 14,000 visitors during a peak summer day.

But Saturday, the official opening of the summer season, lone picnickers lounged on lawns in some areas, leisurely drivers stopped at roadsides to take pictures and an occasional parking spot could be found in the valley, the hub of park activity.

‘Definitely Quiet’

“It’s definitely quiet today,” said Signe Johnson, standing alone in the Art Activities Center she manages in the valley. “I don’t even think it’s an average visitor day--for a holiday.”

Tourists here either lauded the lack of pressing crowds or complained the park was still too crowded for their tastes. Although visitors from the Central Valley who drive up on holiday weekends in the thousands stayed home, most Curry Co. accommodations were full.

Merchants in surrounding communities--who had told park officials two weeks ago that they were scaring away business with their warnings--said Saturday they were vindicated but still miffed.

“Because of all the bull park officials have been releasing in the press, people were scared to come,” said Richard Radanovich, president of the Mariposa Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber started its own publicity campaign last week to attract tourists after Mariposa motels and campgrounds began receiving a flood of cancellations from people who feared they would not be able to get into the park.

Mariposa, about 40 miles from Yosemite, receives 70% of its income from tourists, said Radanovich, a drug store owner.

But reversing the tide of apprehension was not easy.

“On Friday, a San Jose TV station reported a closure at Yosemite National Park, and now we’re getting a lot of cancellations from the Bay Area,” Radanovich said. “It’s like yelling fire in a church. Once you do it, it’s out, and it’s hard to turn it around in another direction.

Nevertheless, panicky talk about a near-empty Mariposa also proved exaggerated, thanks to a convention of BMW motorcycle riders who decided to hold a rally there over the weekend.

‘Taken the Edge Off’

“The bike riders have taken the edge off our problem,” Radanovich said.

Radanovich was not the only one trying to combat rumors about doom at the park. The Curry Co.’s Richmond said he spent the last several days “fending off” strike-related stories.

“I’ve had people call and say they heard we don’t have any food in the park,” he said, seated behind his desk in a nearly empty office building in the valley. “That’s just not true.”

Richmond, still obviously distressed by “the complete lies and fabrications,” traced the first of his troubles to the night before Teamsters Local 386 struck.

On “The Tonight Show,” Johnny Carson told his audience that the park might be closed by a strike, Richmond said. And, raising the ire of park officials even more, Carson joked that there was no need to worry because grizzly bears would be used on management’s negotiating team.

“First of all,” Richmond said pointedly, “there are no grizzly bears in Yosemite National Park.”

Although Carson clarified his remarks the following night--after a call from Richmond--the rumors refused to die, Richmond said.

Negotiations began Saturday in the strike, the first in the park’s 95-year history. The walkout appears to be having little effect on accommodations. Management and substitute workers have kept garages and gas stations running although gas sales have been down.

Greg Magruder, a striking bus driver, surveyed a half-empty parking lot in the valley and happily attributed it to “union support.”

“This is my 10th year working here, and I’ve never seen it so dead,” he said. “A lot of people stayed away because of the strike.”

Richmond said there had been a “handful” of cancellations from people who said they would not cross picket lines.

Paul Moyer, 56, who arrived here from La Mirada on Thursday, said he noticed no strike-related difference in services although the pickets have affected his vacation.

“You come all the way here for a small vacation, and you find people sticking leaflets in your face and you feel like a scab using the facilities,” Moyer said. “But this is the prime time of the year here, and we’ve had reservations for two months. We didn’t want to stay home.”

Harold Klass, 67, an aircraft worker from Los Angeles, said he was uncomfortable about crossing picket lines, but he was glad that, for whatever reason, huge holiday crowds stayed away.

“When we were here on a Fourth of July weekend in 1980, you couldn’t even drive your car around here,” he said. “They made you take shuttle buses.”