Yosemite Entrance Permit

Does anybody have the beta for entering Yosemite without a permit? Looking to make a last minute trip to the valley but I’m seeing all permits are sold out or unavailable. If we get in before 5am are we good to drive in or will they have the booth staffed? 

Reservations are only required after 5am, so you can enter before 5 whether the booth is staffed or not (but at that time it shouldn’t be)

And starting this week you also don’t need one on weekdays

Before 5am you are fine, or after 4pm, and thats only on weekends now. Weekdays are wide open

Edited:
Another trick solution is to get a wilderness permit for any overnight backpacking destination in the park and sleep in the wilderness. Those come with an entry. You also have to complete an online backcountry info class to get the permit. 

Andrew Rice wrote:

Another trick is to get a wilderness permit for any overnight backpacking destination in the park. Those come with an entry. You also have to complete an online backcountry info class to get the permit. 

This is not a "trick", it's just straight messed up. You could be taking that permit from someone who genuinely wants to use it for its intended purpose aka backpacking. 

If you're going to try this (and please AT LEAST don't be dumb enough to advertise it on the Internet, or next thing you know influencers will start doing it too to get into the park and they'll just drive around filming and taking all the wilderness permits for nothing) please pick a trailhead that has many permits left so it's less likely you're taking the slot from someone who genuinely wants to backpack. 

Also if rangers catch wind of this they may change the rules so please don't do this :\ sad to see this being recommended this way. There are many ways in (as others have mentioned outside permit hours) and many other beautiful places to climb in the Sierra where you don't have to "trick" your way in. 

I swear it's a miracle the influencers haven't found out about this and made a tiktok about this "hack to enter Yosemite with no permit!!" So please stop talking about it. 

Lastly, this would only work if you're just going in for the day. Wilderness permits are only for the selected trailhead and time period and if you move or use your car during that period it invalidates the permit. 

Lynne Myers wrote:

This is not a "trick", it's just straight messed up. You could be taking that permit from someone who genuinely wants to use it for its intended purpose aka backpacking. 

If you're going to try this (and please AT LEAST don't be dumb enough to advertise it on the Internet, or next thing you know influencers will start doing it too to get into the park and they'll just drive around filming and taking all the wilderness permits for nothing) please pick a trailhead that has many permits left so it's less likely you're taking the slot from someone who genuinely wants to backpack. 

Also if rangers catch wind of this they may change the rules so please don't do this :\ sad to see this being recommended this way. There are many ways in (as others have mentioned outside permit hours) and many other beautiful places to climb in the Sierra where you don't have to "trick" your way in. 

I swear it's a miracle the influencers haven't found out about this and made a tiktok about this "hack to enter Yosemite with no permit!!" So please stop talking about it. 

Lastly, this would only work if you're just going in for the day. Wilderness permits are only for the selected trailhead and time period and if you move or use your car during that period it invalidates the permit. 

Uh, Lynne, overreact much?

I didn't say the person shouldn't use their wilderness permit, did I? A wilderness permit gets you into the park. It doesn't require you to LEAVE immediately after your overnight. So, just to be more clear, get an overnight permit for any number of lovely destinations. Drive into the park, hike 3 or 4 miles (each trailhead varies) and have a nice night of backpacking instead of sleeping in the Mobil Gas Station parking lot in Lee Vining. Wake up in the morning, hike out.  Then, you're in the park. Do whatever you want. The permit doesn't require that you leave. You aren't violating either the letter or the spirit of the permit system.

Understood?

Kevin DeWeese wrote:

Always a strange response when someone responds to having a lack of clarity in ones own post pointed out with puffed feathers and swishy tail instead of just accepting that someone is pointing out the obvious misunderstanding that could be gleaned from the issue within the original post.
Well, not that strange of a response not that I think about it as I've reacted the same way many time, but I'm pretty much an arrogant dick. 

Did you read the response by Lynne? She spun up an entire catastrophic outcome involving "influencers" and imaginary TikTok videos about something I hadn't even come close to saying. I think my original post was pretty clear: Get a wilderness permit to go spend the night in the Yosemite backcountry  and you get into the park.

If anyone is writing a script for some "influencer" to make that video, it's her.

I realize my error was using the word "trick" as a synonym for "alternative" and she read it as "hack." 

Careful or they will expand the Tuolumne 2024 season 4-mile-camping restriction to all the trailheads.

Generally, per some NPS study I read, the average visitor doesn’t or can’t hike 4 miles.

Kevin DeWeese wrote:

When one says “I think my original post was pretty clear” in response to said post being misunderstood…

It was not the word “trick” that was your error, it was your lack of specifying that one would need to actually spend the permit-specified night in the wilderness that would make using a wilderness permit to enter the park during reservation hours an “alternative” instead of a "hack”

Yeah, I guess I overestimated most climbers as being people who would welcome a night sleeping out along a beautiful hiking trail rather than sleeping in van parked in a shit-strewn highway pullout waiting to slip in the park gates before 5 AM.  

Bb Cc wrote:

Careful or they will expand the Tuolumne 2024 season 4-mile-camping restriction to all the trailheads.

Generally, per some NPS study I read, the average visitor doesn’t or can’t hike 4 miles.

The average visitor can barely hike 1/2 mile from Yosemite Lodge to the Yosemite Falls Bridge. But this is Mountain Project, not "Out of Shape Tourist Project." 

Kevin DeWeese wrote:

When one says “I think my original post was pretty clear” in response to said post being misunderstood…

Edited the original post. 

The first rule about fight club...

Andrew Rice wrote:

Uh, Lynne, overreact much?

I didn't say the person shouldn't use their wilderness permit, did I? A wilderness permit gets you into the park. It doesn't require you to LEAVE immediately after your overnight. So, just to be more clear, get an overnight permit for any number of lovely destinations. Drive into the park, hike 3 or 4 miles (each trailhead varies) and have a nice night of backpacking instead of sleeping in the Mobil Gas Station parking lot in Lee Vining. Wake up in the morning, hike out.  Then, you're in the park. Do whatever you want. The permit doesn't require that you leave. You aren't violating either the letter or the spirit of the permit system.

Understood?

Thanks for the clarification. I agree, if you combine climbing with using the permit for its intended purpose I take zero issue with your "trick" (which would then not be a trick at all? Hence my confusion). 

And I don't think the apocalyptic influencer scenario is that far off - but yes I was being a bit hyperbolic to be fair.

My final thought is that everyone should know about the wilderness permits and have equal access to the outdoors, but everyone should play fair with them too :) 

*Edited because my initial response got caught off for some reason. 

Lynne Myers wrote:

Thanks for the clarification. I agree, if you combine climbing with using the permit for its intended purpose I take zero issue with your "trick" (which would then not be a trick at all? Hence my confusion). 

And I don't think the apocalyptic influencer scenario is that far off - but yes I was being a bit hyperbolic to be fair.

My final thought is that everyone should know about the wilderness permits and have equal access to the outdoors, but everyone should play fair with them too :) 

*Edited because my initial response got caught off for some reason. 

Thanks for circling back, Lynne.

There's probably a generational thing going on with "trick." For geriatrics like me it's used just as much like "I've got a neat TRICK for marking the middle of my rope with beet juice!" as it is like "She TRICKED her grandmother into signing over the deed to the house."

Re. the feared torrent of influencers and tricksters. The NPS requires completion of an online "leave no trace" class and a phone conversation with a ranger prior to issuing the first permit,  so unless you actually use wilderness permits it would be a lot of work just to get a gate pass. 

I was talking to my wife last night about the influencer nightmare. There’s secret (non climbing) spots in Yosemite and Zion that influencers would love to post and brag about that have so far flown under the radar. Both of them I heard about and found some photos on the Internet but no directions. It took some research and a few wrong turns to find them. And they were great and maybe 20 people at each. Both could easily be overrun by the thousands of people in the parks. All it would take is someone posting the coordinates. So I only tell people about them one to one and I get a promise to not post about them. 

Progressive Insurance has a spot-on commercial about influencers:

Kevin DeWeese wrote:

Every single hot spring on the East Side is a testament to how spot on the influencer scenario is. 

Totally. And for me it's all the tiktoks/reels I see about how "you can climb half dome without permits!!" And then the influencers tell the general public to try it with the cables down. Fine for climbers to try at their own risk. Wild to promote it to the general public for money on a tiktok. 

So yeah. I've seen what feels like increased monetization of outdoor tricks, hacks, etc. from influencers. Which, isn't it ironic to be making money off something that isn't supposed to be monetized (i.e. free hot springs, BLM campsites, etc)? Or even off of dangerous advice (go climb with the cables down!! I did so you can too!! Kind of thing)...

Anyway. I could rant more about influencers geotagging places like the hot springs on the East side that don't have resources to keep up with huge influxes of visitation. And how geotagging these places doesn't actually mean more equal access, but I digress. 

Y'know what. I don't digress.

 Geotagging isn't even promoting equal access. It's just promoting access for people with smart phones, internet, gas money, and time off to go. Which means they have access to do their own research and don't need geotags to get outside. 

Okay case rested. Protect the hot springs and the parks from apocalyptic influencer culture. Amen. 

No IG or TikTok or any social media account here.

Everyone do your part - delete social media. 

There’s so much passive aggressive backpedaling here. Everyone knew what they were saying. Please delete this thread 

Hey Michelle - I certainly understand the appeal of Yosemite, though in the general region there are tons of other options that can be, if lucky, less crowded.

Many years ago I got hosed out of Yosemite due to a government shutdown, and discovered the unique Phantom Spires. Many other options in a driveable distance.

Of course, the way this thread is going my response likely offended someone.

Good luck and safe travels!

Matt N wrote:

No IG or TikTok or any social media account here.

Everyone do your part - delete social media. 

MP forum is social media LOL.