Jerel Steckling: Yosemite parking reservations are a great idea

Re “Yosemite offers reserved day-use parking in August” (Page 3A, June 22): With great interest, I read the article about a pilot program for reserved day-use parking in Yosemite Valley. I have volunteered in Yosemite Valley the past 4 years. I have seen in that short time an ever increasing volume of cars trying to enter Yosemite and trying to park. In past years I saw people unable to find parking mostly on weekends. This May I saw the parking lots fill up and visitors unable to park on most weekdays in addition to weekends. Some days the lots filled up by 10:00 AM. Cars would circle and ultimately had to leave. I talked to one angry woman from Canada, coming for a dream vacation, found that they couldn’t park and the only option was to exit. That story was retold many times each day. Reserved parking will help those who plan ahead find parking when they visit the Yosemite. I hope that the National Park Service takes other steps to solve the parking issues in the valley, and that they are supported by the surrounding communities and local elected officials.

This story was originally published June 23, 2017 at 3:14 PM with the headline "Jerel Steckling: Yosemite parking reservations are a great idea."