Park Space : Crowds Are Down at Yosemite--Along With Local Business

It’s been a different, slightly more sedate Yosemite National Park that has greeted visitors so far this summer.

On Fourth of July weekend, the throng of tourists lining up to shiver in the mist of Yosemite Falls wasn’t such a throng. The restaurants and souvenir shops on the valley floor were humming, only you didn’t have to stand in a 10-minute line to buy your Ansel Adams T-shirt.

In fact, the weekend’s crowds were down nearly 30% from last year--a fine thing for the flora and fauna and those visitors who chose Yosemite as their holiday getaway but not such good news for the hotels and restaurants that line the park’s five entrances.

“There were still plenty of people using and enjoying the park, but they were not experiencing the crowds or the bumper-to-bumper traffic that has been evident in past Fourth of July weekends,” said Yosemite spokesman Scott Gediman.

This summer, visitation is down 11% from last year. That translates to almost 100,000 fewer people driving to the park through the gateway communities of Mariposa, Lee Vining, Oakhurst and Bass Lake above Fresno.

In the math of the local tourist bureaus, that’s a lot of lost change.

“I don’t want to give the impression that we’re drying up and blowing away,” said Steve Hayes of the Mariposa Visitors Bureau. “But our hotels are experiencing 20% and 30% vacancy rates, and that’s a real anomaly for this time of the year.”

There is no mystery to this summer’s smaller crowds, park officials acknowledge. Over the last few years, visitors have watched rangers suddenly close the gates and turn back traffic because Yosemite Valley was overrun with cars and buses.

Congestion has gotten so bad that park officials announced plans earlier this year for a system requiring day-use visitors to call and make a reservation before driving up. Even though the plan was shelved for at least another year, many visitors are no longer sure what to expect when they pull up to the front gates.

And then there was the January flood that caused more than $180 million in damage and burned an image into the minds of many European and Asian tourists that Yosemite would never be the same.

“It’s beautiful in the park, but people are still carrying that mental picture of devastation,” said Jerry Fischer, who owns seven motels with 700 rooms just outside the park. “A few weeks ago, our Miner’s Inn in Mariposa had a 33% occupancy rate. In the 15 years I’ve been here, it’s never been that low.”

The reduced traffic has reopened a long-standing debate between those wanting to preserve the park’s natural beauty and improve the experience of visitors and those who see Yosemite as the big engine driving an entire foothill economy.

“I think it’s misplaced anger to point a finger at the [National] Park Service and say, ‘You’re denying people a chance to visit the park,’ ” said Jay Watson of the Wilderness Society, a national conservation group based in San Francisco. “I mean, the gates are wide open.

“These smaller crowds do reduce pressure on the park a bit, and it does make for a better visitor’s experience.”

Last May through June, 906,710 visitors entered Yosemite’s gates, according to park figures. This May through June, the figure was 808,050, an almost 11% downturn.

Park officials juggling the conflicting goals of protecting the park and rolling out the welcome mat say they are pleased by this summer’s more manageable crowds.

“Yosemite was far from empty this Fourth of July,” Gediman said. “The campgrounds were full but not overcrowded. The restaurants were full but not as much waiting. It hasn’t been too busy, and it hasn’t been too slow. It’s been just right.”

In Mariposa County, a small rural county with only 17,000 residents but with a tourist trade that pumps $362 million into the economy, Yosemite is as much a local jobs program as it is a national treasure.

“We’re not complainers. We’re not whiners,” said Joan Gloor, owner of the 44-unit Mariposa Lodge. “But it’s a real shame, because this has been one of the nicest summers in a long time. It’s been cool and very uncrowded.”