Yosemite Travel Guide
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COMPARE PRICES on all Flights to Yosemite
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The good news: Towns on each gateway's periphery are virtually built around the tourism industry. They offer plenty of places to stay and eat and have natural wonders of their own. The bad news: If you stay here, reaching any point within the park requires at least a half-hour drive (usually closer to 1 hr.), which is especially frustrating during high season, when motor homes and congestion cause traffic to move at a snail's pace. A new, controversial park plan is being debated that would cut the number of day-use parking places in the park from 1,600 to 550, encourage bus and shuttle usage, reduce lodging rooms from 1,260 to 981, restore 180 acres to their natural state, and eliminate a 3 1/4-mile section of road to be replaced with a foot-and-bike trail.
In the meantime, there's no shortage of options to encourage you to help the park by leaving your car at your lodging or a parking area and entering on convenient, inexpensive buses (and then moving around the valley floor on free shuttles). The Yosemite Area Regional Transit System (YARTS) (tel. 877/989-2787; www.yarts.com) provides round-trip transit from communities within Mariposa, Merced, and Mono counties to Yosemite. The Merced route along Highway 140 operates year-round, although the winter schedule is limited. Fares for riding YARTS vary, but generally range from $7 to $15 round-trip for adults, including entrance to the park, with discounts for children and seniors. Summer routes originate at Coulterville, Mammoth Lake and Lee Vining, and Wawona. For information on the Highway 120 east service (Mammoth Lakes to Yosemite Valley) call tel. 800/427-7623 from May until it snows (typically Sept or Oct).
Should you need to reserve accommodations outside the park, make a choice based on which gate offers you easiest access. The following selections are grouped by the three most popular entrances: The west entrances are Big Oak Flat (via Calif. 120), which is 88 miles east of Manteca and accommodates traffic from San Francisco; and Arch Rock (via Calif. 140), 75 miles northeast of Merced, is the easiest route from central California. The South Entrance is Wawona (via Calif. 41), which is 64 miles north of Fresno and the passage leading from Southern California.
