Not even Yosemite National Park is sacred to scalpers

Ticket scalping is a crass reality for the Giants, the Lakers and Lady Gaga, but here's a wave of price gouging you may have missed: Yosemite National Park.

Campsite reservations and permits to scale Half Dome have become such hot commodities that the National Park Service is scrambling to halt the auctioning of park access to the highest bidder.

The flipping of reservations and permits in Yosemite -- the third-most-visited national park -- is so rampant on Internet sites such as Craigslist that park officials are "becoming more aggressive" in trying to shut down these operators, Yosemite spokesman Scott Gediman said.

"We want to stop it as much as we can," he said. "It's not fair. These (reservations and permits) aren't intended to go into the after-market. But it's becoming more sophisticated. People are finding ways to abuse the system."

A review last week of all 29 Craigslist sites in California revealed dozens of ads peddling prime camp spots during the summer high season, including the coveted Yosemite Valley floor.

The 900 Yosemite campsites available for reservation cost $20 a night when booked through the park's contractor, ReserveAmerica. But park officials and some consumers report being quoted prices of $100 to $150 a night from Craigslist vendors, who sometimes offer to change the name on the reservation.

Profiteers also are nabbing and reselling permits to climb Half Dome, which are issued by the park essentially for free (plus a $1.50 handling charge). Gediman said the program limiting the number of people allowed each day to ascend Half Dome via the cables was started last year for safety reasons and has been well-received by visitors.

Then scalpers moved in.

Rick DeLappe, reservation service program manager for the National Park Service, said he is fielding increasing consumer complaints about illicit Yosemite resales. But the battle is tricky. While eBay has a filter that will remove any posting to auction off a piece of Yosemite, he said, the same is not true with Craigslist.

"It kills us, because there's so little we can do about it," DeLappe said.

Park officials are reluctant to provide details of their investigation into reservation flipping but say they are aggressively trying to identify perpetrators. According to an NPS "director's order," resale or auction of reservations is prohibited.

But can those cashing in on Yosemite be prosecuted? And if so, who would do it? Gediman said the legal aspects of how to handle profiteers are under review by National Park Service and Yosemite officials, along with other federal agencies, given that multiple jurisdictions likely would be involved.

Vulnerable reservations

So far, scalping appears to be confined in the national park system to Yosemite, a dramatic wonder about which naturalist John Muir once said, "No temple made with hands can compare. Every rock in its wall seems to glow with life."

A Sacramento Bee review of Craigslist ads in eight other states with the busiest national parks showed no postings for campsites or permits for sale.

"There's so much passion about camping in Yosemite," DeLappe said. "Families have gone there for years." But demand far exceeds supply in the summer months, particularly July and August, when park visits soar.

For those hoping to reserve one of 900 campsites (about the same number are first come, first served), the park will begin accepting phone or online bookings for a desired arrival date on the 15th of the month, up to five months in advance. For instance, campers planning a July 4 visit would want to be poised at their phones or computers (www.recreation.gov) when reservations open at 7 a.m. on Feb. 15.