Yosemite park closed, but roads open,
Yosemite National Park remained closed Monday because of very unhealthy and hazardous air quality from wildfires, primarily the 435-square-mile Creek Fire burning in Madera and Fresno counties.
However, some key roads through the park are now open with no reservations or passes required. Visitors are expected to remain in their vehicles, with no stopping for picturetaking, hiking or fishing allowed.
“The park is closed but people can drive through,” Scott Gediman with Yosemite National Park public affairs said Monday morning in a phone interview. “Restrooms at entrance stations are open. Entrance stations are not staffed so basically people can drive through.”
Gediman said he’s been in Yosemite 25 years and can’t remember another time when the park was closed with through-roads open to the public. But it makes sense, he said, given the current circumstances.
“We felt for this situation with the smoke and the fires, this is the bestcase scenario,” Gediman said. “I’m in Yosemite Valley and I can’t even see Half Dome. It’s not safe for visitors, and it’s not safe for staff.”
Yosemite roads that remained open Monday included Big Oak Flat Road and Tioga Road, the names for Highway 120 inside the park; El Portal Road, which is Highway 140; and Wawona Road, also known as Highway 41.
Limited restroom facilities are available on all road corridors.
Glacier Point Road and Mariposa Grove Road remained closed, along with all visitor centers, campgrounds, restaurants and lodging facilities. Prohibited activities in the park include hiking, fishing, cycling, camping and rock climbing.
Visitors driving on park roads are required to stay in their vehicles as they drive through the park.
Park administrators are conferring with local and federal public health experts on air quality, public health and safety. The park will reopen when conditions improve enough for the public health and safety of park visitors and employees to engage in regular park activities.
The Creek Fire started Sept. 4, it had burned more than 278,000 acres and 850 structures, and it was estimated to be 27 percent contained as of Monday morning.