Yosemite Mist Trail Crowds Reported After Reservations Ended, Though Park Service Calls Holiday Weekend One of Its Smoothest

Video footage from this past weekend shows hikers on Yosemite National Park's Mist Trail stepping around each other on steep, slick sections near Vernal Falls. New York Post reported that one clip captured a man walking close to a cliff edge while others pushed past on the way up. Claudia Magana, 30, a Hayward native, hiked the trail on Saturday after leaving home at 4 a.m.

She searched for several minutes to find parking at 7 a.m. because lots were full. Magana said the crowds made the trail dangerous and that attendance should be limited. She described the staircase section after the top of Vernal Falls as the scariest point because of people moving both up and down.

"One wrong move and it's easy to just slip," she said. Mobeen Zarekari, 19, recorded video late last month that showed dozens of tourists on a tight cliffside section with a rainbow overhead. He said the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds made the trail more dangerous and that noise lessened the experience.

Zarekari stated the park was more peaceful and less dangerous when the reservation system was in place. The Trump administration eliminated the timed reservation system for Yosemite and other national parks in February 2026. Yosemite recorded 634,508 total visits in June 2026.

The National Park Service stated the Fourth of July weekend was one of its smoothest holiday periods in recent memory. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said the change produced faster entry times than ever. Josue Baires Alfaro, 22, died after falling from Nevada Falls on the Mist Trail last month.

An 18-year-old Israeli tourist died in 2018 after hanging off a cliff at the falls while taking a selfie. A 19-year-old from Sacramento died in 2013 after swimming above the falls and being swept over by the current.