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Travel & Experiences

Yosemite Valley to reopen Tuesday after nearby fires closed it for 20 days

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A view of the Yosemite Valley, which remains clouded in smoke from the Ferguson fire.

  (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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Scott Gediman, public affairs officer Yosemite National Park, walks across Stoneman Meadow in the Yosemite Valley, one of the park’s most popular places.

  (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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A sign hangs in remembrance of fallen dozer operator Braden Varney of Cal Fire, who died in July and for all firefighters currently protecting the park.

  (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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A deserted Half Dome Village in the Yosemite Valley remains clouded in smoke from the Ferguson fire.

  (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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Benjamin Chevelle, 32, and girlfriend Celia Leonardo, 27, of Paris ride the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad in Fish Camp on Aug. 2. Chevelle and Leonardo planned their trip six months ago to visit Yosemite National Park. “We are a little bit disappointed because Yosemite is very different than other national parks,” said Leonardo. There were only 10 guests on the train. Normally in July and August there would be 100-150 riders.

  (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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An American black bear strolls in a meadow behind the Majestic Yosemite Hotel in the Yosemite Valley.

  (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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A deserted Lower Pines camp in the Yosemite Valley remains clouded in smoke from the Ferguson fire.

  (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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The Zutelman family of Buenos Aires wades in the Tenaya Lake as Yosemite National Park remains clouded in smoke from the Ferguson fire.

  (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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Mule deer graze in front of the museum in the Yosemite Valley.

  (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
By Chris ErskineColumnist 
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Yosemite Valley will reopen to visitors at 9 a.m. Tuesday, after being closed for 20 days because of the Ferguson fire. The National Park Service also announced Friday that the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias will reopen Monday at 9 a.m.

Visitors should expect limited hours and services at park facilities as they return to normal operations.

Those traveling to Yosemite Valley can reach it from:

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  • El Portal Road (Highway 140)
  • Big Oak Flat Road (Highway 120)
  • Tioga Road (Highway 120)

The Wawona Road (Highway 41) will remain closed from Wawona to Yosemite Valley for at least another week.

To get to Mariposa Grove, visitors can take the South Entrance (Highway 41) and park in the new lot, where shuttle buses will take visitors to the grove. The grove reopened in June after a three-year restoration.

The fires will keep the Glacier Point Road closed for at least another week. The Hetch Hetchy area remains closed because of smoke, but is expected to open soon.

For updated 24-hour road and weather conditions for Yosemite National Park, call (209) 372-0200, press 1 and press 1 again. Updated information is also available on the park’s website at www.nps.gov/yose and on the Yosemite National Park Facebook page.

travel@latimes.com

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Travel & Experiences
Chris Erskine

Chris Erskine is a nationally known humor columnist and editor who retired from the Los Angeles Times in 2020. Previously he wrote for the Sports, Travel and Saturday sections and edited with the paper’s features staff. As an editor, he has been a part of two Pulitzer Prize-winning teams at The Times (for his graphics work on the Northridge quake and the North Hollywood bank robbery). He is best known to readers for his weekly humor pieces on life in suburban Los Angeles. His latest book, “Daditude,” released in 2018, is a collection of his favorite Times columns on fatherhood. He has written two other books, “Man of the House” and “Surviving Suburbia,” which reached the Los Angeles Times bestseller list. The Chicago native has also worked for papers in New Orleans and Miami.

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