What's on in Yosemite National Park (Yosemite), United States through the year

Busy — Winter / Christmas break in United States, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Rule

  Bear canisters and food lockers

  1 Jan – 31 DecClosures

  Nothing with a smell may be left in a car overnight and backcountry trips carry an approved canister. Rangers ticket for it, and bears open cars in the valley car parks most summers anyway. Source ↗

Still on: High country closed for winter (10 Nov – 10 May (usually)), Badger Pass and the winter valley (15 Dec – 20 Mar (usually))

Busy — Horsetail Fall at sunset

• Nature

  Horsetail Fall at sunset

  8–27 Feb · usuallyDark-sky seasonCrowded

  For about two weeks in mid-February the last sun hits Horsetail Fall and the water glows orange for ten minutes. It needs water in the fall and a clear western horizon, so it fails as often as it works. Source ↗

Still on: Bear canisters and food lockers (1 Jan – 31 Dec), High country closed for winter (10 Nov – 10 May (usually)), Badger Pass and the winter valley (15 Dec – 20 Mar (usually))

Busy — Spring break in United States

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Bear canisters and food lockers (1 Jan – 31 Dec), High country closed for winter (10 Nov – 10 May (usually)), Badger Pass and the winter valley (15 Dec – 20 Mar (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

• Nature

  Dogwood in the valley

  15 Apr – 20 May · usuallyWildflowers & blooms

  The Pacific dogwoods flower white through the valley floor forest for a few weeks from mid-April, at the same time as the waterfalls are loudest and the high country is still shut. Source ↗

• Nature

  Waterfalls at full flow

  15 Apr – 15 Jun · usuallyHigh water

  Snowmelt peaks in May and Yosemite Falls runs hard enough to soak the Lower Fall bridge. By August it is often a stain on the rock, so the falls are a spring trip, not a summer one.

Still on: Bear canisters and food lockers (1 Jan – 31 Dec), High country closed for winter (10 Nov – 10 May (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

• Opening

  Tioga and Glacier Point roads open

  10 May – 10 Nov · usuallyTrail season

  The two high roads are ploughed open between early May and early July depending on the snowpack, and shut again with the first serious storm in autumn. Tuolumne Meadows and Glacier Point are unreachable by car outside that window. Source ↗

• Rule

  Half Dome cable permits

  20 May – 15 Oct · usuallyBook earlyClosures

  The cables go up for the summer and the climb needs a permit, won in a March lottery or one of the daily draws two days out. Without one the hike stops at the base of the subdome. Source ↗

Still on: Bear canisters and food lockers (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Dogwood in the valley (15 Apr – 20 May (usually)), Waterfalls at full flow (15 Apr – 15 Jun (usually)), High country closed for winter (10 Nov – 10 May (usually))

Peak crowds — Summer peak, Summer break in United States

• Season

  Summer peak

  15 Jun – 25 AugSchool holidaysCrowdedBook early

  The valley takes most of the park's four million annual visits in ten weeks. Campsites and valley lodging are booked the day they release, and the shuttle queue is the real bottleneck. Source ↗

Still on: Bear canisters and food lockers (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Waterfalls at full flow (15 Apr – 15 Jun (usually)), Tioga and Glacier Point roads open (10 May – 10 Nov (usually)), Half Dome cable permits (20 May – 15 Oct (usually))

Peak crowds — Summer peak, Summer break in United States

• Nature

  Tuolumne Meadows in flower

  1 Jul – 10 Aug · usuallyWildflowers & blooms

  The subalpine meadows at 2,600 metres flower for about six weeks once Tioga Road opens, and the mosquitoes peak with them. Late July is the compromise.

• Hazard

  Wildfire smoke

  15 Jul – 30 Sep · usuallySmoke seasonClosures

  Late-summer fires in and around the Sierra fill the valley with smoke that sits between the walls for days. Prescribed burns in autumn do a milder version of the same thing. Source ↗

Still on: Bear canisters and food lockers (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Tioga and Glacier Point roads open (10 May – 10 Nov (usually)), Half Dome cable permits (20 May – 15 Oct (usually)), Summer peak (15 Jun – 25 Aug)

Peak crowds — Summer peak, Summer break in United States

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: Bear canisters and food lockers (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Tioga and Glacier Point roads open (10 May – 10 Nov (usually)), Half Dome cable permits (20 May – 15 Oct (usually)), Summer peak (15 Jun – 25 Aug), Tuolumne Meadows in flower (1 Jul – 10 Aug (usually)), Wildfire smoke (15 Jul – 30 Sep (usually))

Busy — Summer break in United States

Nothing new starts in September.

Still on: Bear canisters and food lockers (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Tioga and Glacier Point roads open (10 May – 10 Nov (usually)), Half Dome cable permits (20 May – 15 Oct (usually)), Wildfire smoke (15 Jul – 30 Sep (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

• Nature

  Autumn colour in the valley

  10 Oct – 15 Nov · usually

  Black oak and dogwood on the valley floor turn through late October and the aspen along Tioga go earlier and higher. The falls are at their thinnest at the same time, which is the trade. Source ↗

Still on: Bear canisters and food lockers (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Tioga and Glacier Point roads open (10 May – 10 Nov (usually)), Half Dome cable permits (20 May – 15 Oct (usually))

Quiet — travelers describe it as quiet, Thanksgiving break in United States

• Closure

  High country closed for winter

  10 Nov – 10 May · usually

  Tioga Road, Glacier Point Road and Mariposa Grove Road close with the first heavy snow and stay shut for six months. The valley stays open all winter, with chains required and almost nobody in it. Source ↗

Still on: Bear canisters and food lockers (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Tioga and Glacier Point roads open (10 May – 10 Nov (usually)), Autumn colour in the valley (10 Oct – 15 Nov (usually))

Busy — Winter / Christmas break in United States, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Season

  Badger Pass and the winter valley

  15 Dec – 20 Mar · usuallySki season

  The park's own small ski area runs when the snow allows, the Curry Village rink is open under the walls, and the valley is as quiet as it ever gets. Chains are a legal requirement on the way in. Source ↗

Still on: Bear canisters and food lockers (1 Jan – 31 Dec), High country closed for winter (10 Nov – 10 May (usually))