Yosemite Day Use Pass - Must arrive on day of reservation?

Hello all,

I have a question about the Yosemite Day use pass reservation.  I think the wording has changed on recreation.gov.  They are saying that you MUST arrive on the DAY of your reservation for your week long day use pass to be valid.  Is this correct?  I went to Tuolumne in June but I didn't actually arrive on the day my pass was reserved for.  My reservation was for June 24, but I entered the park on June 27 & 28.  Which is within the 7 day period.  Nobody at the gate ever checked me because I was arriving right at 5AM, and the guard shack was empty.  I used the "self certification" method by filling out that little slip of paper.  

Can anyone confirm if I'm interpreting this correctly?  

For example:  If my reservation is for July 16 (Thursday), and I show up on July 18 (Saturday), my pass isn't valid?  Even though I'm within my 7 day window?  

Thanks all! 

My understanding of it is that your pass will still be accepted in the situation you describe. Since you have paid for the reservation, and potentially the entrance fee online as well, then you cannot be turned around if you actually show up later than when the reservation starts.

You MUST arrive on the day you reserved. Once your reservation is validated at the park your day use access is good for for 7 consecutive days, including day of arrival reserved. The person making the reservation needs to be in the vehicle at the time of entry and photo ID will be required. Day Use hours are 5 a.m. PT - 11 p.m. PT.

This is what the text on the webpage has stated for the day use passes since they came out. Gavin above is incorrect. The 7 days is only acceptable for the day use pass IF it is validated on the day of the reservation. It's a reservation for a specific day and the 7 day use of the pass is irrelevant if the reserved day is not validated. In your situation you did not have a valid entry into the park but you didn't get caught so win for you. 

https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/covid19.htm

Do I have to arrive on the first day?
You must arrive on the start date indicated on your reservation. Day-use reservations are valid from 5 am to 11 pm each day. Day-use reservation holders may not be in the park between 11 pm and 5 am (overnight).

It's not clear to me how strictly they are enforcing this -- supposedly rangers are out there patrolling the permits.  But in any case what you did is in violation of the current rules.  If you could enter on any day during the 7-day period, that would make the daily reservations kind of pointless.

Hey BryanOC…. Here's what I can tell you for sure.  Yes, it DOES state that very clearly that you must arrive ON the day the ticketed day-use reservation says.  However, I entered on one of my tickets and it was not the first day.  The girl at the gate didn't say a thing and just wrote me my "pink slip" validating it for the rest of the 7 day period.  I admit I'm a regular there, living 10 miles away, but nothing was said to me about she shouldn't be doing this or next time make sure...blah, blah, blah.  So there ya have it.  Good luck!

The day-use passes have been and are continuing to be validated even if they arrive on the days after the start date on the reservation. The end date of the reservation does not change.

I've heard from a credible source (friend and not park affiliated)  that if you have a permit for say 7/1 the park will let you in on 7/2 even if you didn't check in on 7/1.

Of course, that may and can change etc.

Also, Gavin is a good/credible source ;-)

If you're living close to the park then hoping that a gate worker allows (or continues to allow) an exception to the rule is fine because no great loss if you get turned around.

Those of us that travel long distances to get to the park are probably less likely to hope for one of those rangers because nothing says "I wasted my time and gas and risked becoming a vector to the communities between my own and Yosemite" like being turned around by a gate worker that is following the letter of the regulations. 

M Appelquist wrote: Must I always use the same vehicle if I am the day use permit holder and keep my permit presentable? Essentially, will I get turned away or will my vehicle descriptor be allowed to change? Reason? I live close enough to use on several days but would like to use alternate vehicle depending on variety of factors. 

The text is that the car  doesn't matter as long as the reservation holder is in the car 

How Many Reservations Do I Need?

Only one day use reservation in required for a vehicle and all occupants. Visitors are allowed up to 1 private vehicle or 1 motorcycle day use reservation per day. Reservation holder must be in the vehicle or on the motorcycle at the time of entry and prepared to show photo ID.

M Appelquist wrote:

I missed that....where? The window taped on paper has a partial license plate written on it. Will be happy. Was it in the faq or somewhere else?

Edit: just read your addendum. Thanks. Also seems unclear to me. Must mean getting new window paper if changing vehicle.

Yeah, hard to say. I'd think that the partial license on the paper would be to prevent people from entering twice on the same day with different cars but it's not like I see them making a record of anything when I've gone through the gates. Might just be another thing where they're not really enforcing the letter of the regulations but going through the motions in casr they get told to start

Edit: now that I reread it, I'm not sure that it actually says only one entry, as it says one day use permit per person per day which matches what reservation.gov does in not letting you get two reservation for the same day. So if it's referring to the reservation and not the vehicle the reservation holder is in, probably can just ferry people in through the gates with enough planning and hiking around through the forest to go from inside to outside. Idk

M,  The gate ranger told me you can come in a different vehicle.  Just have your pink slip with partial license # on it.  They'll take that from you and write you a new one for the vehicle you're in.  Then same procedure if you change back to original vehicle

Think I've been through all of these situations (and more) in the last couple of weeks:

• I've picked up a permit on a different day. 
• I've changed cars. You just need to have all the paperwork you used to pick up the original reservation, and turn in the original pink slip, they'll give you a new one (each slip has part of the car licence plate marked)
• I've picked up a reservation that was under a different name (my wifes). They may want to see a copy of the ID for that person and it probably helps that we have the same last name.

i think there is a specific (unpublished) edict for the rangers to work with people.  one ranger actually told us so.  

we've got a friend who entered the park when the rangers were supposed to be there in the morning, but were not there.  she didn't fill out the self registration, came back a few days later and still got her pass.

a guy in front of us got in/through yesterday without having a reservation, but they did give him a lecture, warning, in addition to taking down all his information

Tangent: Are the half dome cables up?  Is a permit needed?

Gumby King wrote: Tangent: Are the half dome cables up?  Is a permit needed?

Permits are always needed for half dome cables when they're up.

The cables go up in the spring and never later than July. Considering that half dome cable permit are available right now for Friday I'd say they're def  up. 

As always though, no permit needed for snake dike! Other than getting in the park...

Jacob Mintz wrote: As always though, no permit needed for snake dike! Other than getting in the park...

As long and you and your partner can hike in, finish the route, hike back to car, and get out of the park by 11pm, otherwise you'd need a overnight parking permit (or backcountry camping permit). NPS allowances for "we thought we'd be faster/ the other teams were too slow" still to be determined. (Also, I'm not sure if the Overnight Parking permits are available only to people scheduling to bivy on a wall or if longer multipitch freeclimbs counts as well, though NIADs count soooo, idk)

Kevin DeWeese wrote:

As long and you and your partner can hike in, finish the route, hike back to car, and get out of the park by 11pm, otherwise you'd need a overnight parking permit (or backcountry camping permit). NPS allowances for "we thought we'd be faster/ the other teams were too slow" still to be determined. (Also, I'm not sure if the Overnight Parking permits are available only to people scheduling to bivy on a wall or if longer multipitch freeclimbs counts as well, though NIADs count soooo, idk)

True. We did snake dike for the first time a few weeks ago, and I had left a note on my car saying "Doing snake dike, may be back late!" per a recommendation from the entrance gate person. Got to our car at 12:30a, and had we left right away there wouldn't have been a problem. We were dead on our feet and needed to rest and eat some food before driving an hour to get out of the park - got asked for our information and they gave us the schpeel, but they were very kind and just asked us to leave as soon as possible. 

Park Rangers are people, and as long as you're not trying to overtly break rules / game the system (and even if you are, if you do it respectfully, back down when you need to), they can be pretty understanding (purely anecdotal evidence of course).

I've heard there's a particular park ranger to email about big wall overnight parking permits, but I haven't found who that is.

Jacob Mintz wrote:
I've heard there's a particular park ranger to email about big wall overnight parking permits, but I haven't found who that is.

You email the climbing ranger email (yose_climbing@nps.gov) (although now there's a link on the nps site that allows you to email through the site as well) and give them the following information:

• Name of Party
• Number in Party
• Route selection (with rock formation)
• Estimated dates and nights on the wall
• Vehicle Registration or tag number
• Contact phone number or email

You'll also need to show that you have a day use reservation for the date.

It's a bit logistically difficult for an all day climb because you can only meet with the ranger to get your permit the day before your climb OR the day of you climb either between 10:30am-2:30pm at el cap meadow or 4pm-5pm at Yosemite Village. Parking Permits can only be issued in person and can not be done over email to allow for you to start the climb before the earliest 10:30am meeting time with the ranger.

It's a bit logistically difficult for an all day climb because you can only meet with the ranger to get your permit the day before your climb OR the day of you climb either between 10:30am-2:30pm at el cap meadow or 4pm-5pm at Yosemite Village. Parking Permits can only be issued in person and can not be done over email to allow for you to start the climb before the earliest 10:30am meeting time with the ranger.

Luckily the day pass reservations are for a whole week, provided you register on the first day of your pass. I'd imagine you may be able to request a night at the backpacker's camp between the ranger meet up day and the start of your climb.

Jacob Mintz wrote:

Luckily the day pass reservations are for a whole week, provided you register on the first day of your pass. I'd imagine you may be able to request a night at the backpacker's camp between the ranger meet up day and the start of your climb.

If you get a wilderness permit you don't need the overnight parking permit, but the wilderness permits for climbing routes follow the same issuing times as the parking permit

Like all visitors, climbers can request a wilderness permits. Since a few cross-country climbing access routes are not available for reservation, but still require a permit for overnight wilderness camping, climbing rangers can issue these permits: El Capitan via the East Ledges, Snake Dike Bivouac, and the Base of NW Face of Half Dome. Climbing rangers issue these wilderness permits by appointment at the same times and places listed above.