In the map below you can see roads leading to the (built in 2017) Yosemite Village free day use parking lot, (also known as Camp 6 parking area) at free shuttle bus stop #1, (short walk to the main Visitor Center, biggest Yosemite grocery, museum, Post Office, restaurants, garage)
and farther below a close-up more detailed map of the roundabout (circular roadway / rotary / traffic circle)
The parking lot is, in the map directly below, the green square with a white P in it, labeled as Yosemite Village Parking and the round-about is the tiny circle to the upper right of the green square. (The two-way road arrows are no longer accurate as long as the new traffic plan is in place. See more on this below.)
Starting in May 2021, “NPS and Federal Highways are testing some new ideas to reduce traffic congestion. This pilot program is based on over two years of monitoring and modeling traffic flows to figure out where the pinch points are and how to alleviate them.” I advise you take the time to read all the details at: https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/roadpilot.htm
The park said: “please pay attention to sign modifications, barricades and pavement markings on Southside Drive, Sentinel Drive, and Northside Drive. The pilot will continue throughout the summer through approximately September 15.
Key features include:
– Converting the eastbound lane from Yosemite Falls parking (west of Yosemite Valley Lodge) to Yosemite Village to westbound, so there are two westbound lanes of one-way traffic to exit Yosemite Valley
– Changing the four-way intersection near Curry Village to a three-way intersection without stop signs
– Switching the direction of traffic flow on Sentinel Drive, so that vehicles drive on the opposite side of the road
– Removing stop signs and reconfiguring the two Sentinel Drive intersections at Northside and Southside Drives
The goal of this effort is to improve traffic flow and make conditions better. Outcomes will be monitored, and the program may be modified throughout the summer if needed for safety and efficiency.”
This map is at that webpage:
The parking lot / round-about is at the intersection of
– the one way road from Pines Campgrounds, Curry Village (briefly named Half Dome Village), Curry Village free day use parking lot, coming into the roundabout from the east,
– the two-way road directly to the north of the roundabout past the back of the Village Store on the west, the garage on the east and to a “T” intersection with two-way Ahwahnee Drive, which can take you to the Medical Clinic, Church Bowl picnic area and the Ahwahnee Hotel (for awhile named the Majestic Yosemite Hotel).
– and the road section of Northside Drive exiting the round-about, heading to the Yosemite Lodge, Camp 4 and park exits.
Here is a map of the intersection where Sentinel Drive used to intersect with the road to the round-about, but no longer will. (from the https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/roadpilot.htm):
People who do not follow signage often cause yet another preventable traffic backup.
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One parking lot driveway is on the left in the photo below, another driveway is at the bottom center, the round-about is on the right:
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RVs and trailers should not park in Yosemite Village free parking,
but should instead try to find parking at the Yosemite Falls parking lot (a left hand turn at the road entering the above map from the west). Or RVs and trailers should go to their campsite and park there and use the free shuttle bus, ride bikes, walk, stroll, hike to get around the east end of Yosemite valley.
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standing a bit away from where you parked,
so you will be able to find your vehicle.
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The directional sign you see just before entering the round-about from the east
on the one way road from Pines Campgrounds, Curry Village (briefly named Half Dome Village) and the Curry Village free day-use parking lot is below:
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A photo of the roundabout with a truck entering from the one way road from the east, and the shuttle bus stop #1 driveway that you should not try to use for parking:
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To the northwest of the Yosemite Village day use parking there is a wide cross walk across Northside Drive
pedestrians can use to get to shuttle stop 11 (instead of getting on at shuttle bus stop #1 at the east side of the Village Day use parking lot) and possibly take a half hour or longer off of their shuttle bus ride to, for example, Happy Isles, the trailhead for Vernal mist trail, Nevada Falls and Half Dome.
But be prepared for drivers who do not stop for you,
even with such an obviously well marked crosswalk.
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Please respect fencing designed to keep people from walking off of official pathways & trails and wearing out plants, killing wildflowers. Below, on the right, the eroded river bank below the Yosemite Village day use parking lot:
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At the back of the parking lot, on the northern end, along a path to the Village store area, there have been displays of color photo trail maps
including this of the two ways to go to Vernal and/or Nevada Fall, (most people go up the Mist trail and down the John Muir trail and in winter only some parts of the trail may be open, see Mist Trail info.)
This shows the loop trail to Mirror Lake from shuttle stop #17 (but also see an alternative trail from the Ahwahnee (once temporarily named the Majestic Yosemite Hotel) about half way down the webpage at this map.
This shows the trails to lower Yosemite Falls from shuttle stop #6, the trail to Columbia Rock and on to the top of Upper Yosemite Fall, and the trail thru Cook’s Meadow.
If you take the lower section of the figure-8-ish Cook’s Meadow loop, you will cross a bridge with a display about the many times Yosemite Valley has flooded so badly it has become a lake.
See more color photo trail maps at a display in front of main valley Visitor Center.
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Descriptions of each free shuttle bus stop
and ways to use the shuttle bus effectively, and save time,
find activities/trailheads/restaurants/showers
are at: Yosemite valley free shuttle bus.
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You might also want to read How to not collide with a deer,
Safe driving in rain and fog,
Prepare for winter driving,
and/or wildlife jams
Road trip advice and etiquette has ideas for limiting boredom, getting along on a road trip and some packing and safety tips.
Overnight lodging in Yosemite Valley
Swimming in Yosemite National park, including pools open to the public and notes about relatively safe and unsafe places to swim on rivers, etc.
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Cell phone service is not available all over Yosemite valley, but is usually okay in the vicinity of the main visitor center. In June, 2017 and February & June, 2018, April 2019 we got 4 bars for Verizon and 3 bars for AT&T near the main visitor center, versus 2 bars for each at the Majestic and 2 bars Verizon, 1 bar AT&T in Upper Pines campground, at the Yosemite Valley Lodge and Curry Village (briefly named Half Dome Village). The park service said: “Cell phone coverage in Yosemite is spotty . . . Cell service is often impacted during daily peak visitation by the large number of people trying to access limited service; if you have four bars of service, but you can’t get a signal, this is why . . . cell coverage depends on your phone, the cloud cover and other seemingly mysterious factors and is not always reliable. ”
Bears do break in to vehicles in Yosemite National Park (potentially year-round) and food storage rules apply all over the park, as in this sign at a day-use parking lot:
You might find a dumpster in the parking lot.
In the photo above, the note on it says:
“Dumpster Full
This dumpster is full and has been wired shut to prevent black bears from accessing the overflow trash. Please do your part in protecting Yosemite wildlife by finding another dumpster to dispose of your trash. Thank you.”
PLEASE, when a dumpster is full don’t just leave your trash sitting next to it, find another dumpster.
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The National Park Service warns:
“Each year, Yosemite National Park welcomes over four million visitors. If you are planning to visit Yosemite, plan ahead and arrive early. In summer, expect extended traffic delays and extremely limited parking. Expect delays of an hour or more at entrance stations and two to three hours in Yosemite Valley . . . If you are planning to visit Yosemite valley by car for the day, arrive before 9 am, after which parking is usually full.
Parking is available at Yosemite Village, Curry Village (briefly named Half Dome Village), and near Yosemite Falls. If you find a parking space, plan to leave your car there; you will not be able to find another parking spot. Use the free shuttle to get around Yosemite Valley.
If you have lodging or campground reservations, park your car at your lodge or campground and use the shuttles to get around.
Once all parking in Yosemite Valley is full, you may be redirected to other areas (which will also have limited parking).”
Here is a map of the three main Yosemite Valley day use parking lots:
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Almost all sides of all roads in Yosemite valley are closed to parking. There are a few turnouts and you can park along sections of some roads if you get there early enough, below a section of southside drive/ Happy Isles loop road just north of Curry Village (briefly named Half Dome Village):
and here, a section of Northside Drive just south of a walkway to the base of lower Yosemite falls:
These two photos were taken in December, when there were plenty of parking spaces in all the free day use parking lots. There were quite a few adults in this SUV that parked at the end of the row of cars above, on the bike path, fully blocking the bike path:
Does this driver park on sidewalks at home? Did the adult passengers really not notice the height of the curb, to be able to tell the driver that they were perhaps not parked where they should be?
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When a helicopter needs to land in the Ahwahnee meadow across the road from Church Bowl, to pick up someone who needs to go to a bigger hospital, (or when a helicopter needs to land for Search and Rescue training) people are asked to stay on the restroom/picnic area side of the road, and traffic going through is briefly stopped.
Because you won’t know a helicopter is coming and won’t be able to move your vehicle fast enough, the entire meadow side of the road at Church Bowl is closed to any parking at all times, (even to get out and quickly take a picture or use the restroom).
In this photo you can see a few parking spaces in a row alongside the restroom/picnic area side of the road and the stripes for no parking with big letters on the pavement that say NO PARKING, on the other side of the road:
When the stripes did not function to keep people from parking there, the park started setting out a row of red pylons and tall no parking signs, which people still ignore, as in the car at the top of this photo that drove between the pylons to park:
And on the far end of the Church Bowl restroom/picnic area side of the road, a car parked off the side of the road, not in a parking space, (off road behind a large rock meant to deter anyone from parking there) with a parking ticket with a minimum $130 fine (ticket under the windshield wiper) in this photo:
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Putting on your emergency flashers when you pull into a free shuttle bus stop driveway does not turn it into a parking space for you, and when the shuttle bus arrives you will be honked at to move, as the red car below was:
Did they not see the two signs at the side of the shuttle stop driveway/shuttle parking space?
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A red painted curb is a no parking zone anywhere in the U.S., (including Georgia, where this mini-van was from), and in national parks, in part because some red curbs mark the space an ambulance or fire truck would need to get by. Yes, no parking is allowed even if one family member stays in the vehicle while the other rushes in to shop:
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Each space in a parking lot is usually paved, has painted stripes and has a concrete beam your tires would hit to keep you from going too far (see the car on the right). In this photo, the driver of the SUV on the left decided to move into the dirt/plants to the side of a parking space at the end of a row, with tires slightly into the legal space already occupied by someone else. Ooops, tires partially in that space does not make it legal.
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Did this driver from Arizona move the no parking a-frame sign over, or was it already moved over and he choose to ignore the sign, red cone, “No Parking” in large letters on the pavement and two giant trash dumpsters?
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And, yes the following signs are sometimes also ignored, “it’s just for a minute so it’s okay, right?”
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spending a lot of time tracking down where their vehicle was towed to,
or where their ice chest / cooler was taken
when a Ranger confiscated it from their open pickup truck bed.
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Top reasons to not speed in a National Park.
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You have a number of lodging choices of where to stay overnight in Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park, including campsites or
wood-walled cabin without a bath; heated or unheated wood floored, canvas sided and roofed tent cabin; wood walled cabin with a bath
luxury or generic hotel rooms, suites with a bath
Ahwahnee hotel map webpage has summer and winter photos of rooms, balconies, parlors, (and the views from some of them), including the Presidential Suite with the huge balcony at the (south) far end of the Ahwahnee from the parking lot, the large third floor parlor with fireplace, two main building ADA Suites, featured room 417 with it’s own, small, private balcony, 5th floor rooms that share a balcony, the El Dorado Diggins Suite Jacuzzi tub, the 24 cottages / (bungalows / cabins), including the classic cottages that have an alcove between the bedroom and the bathroom with a bed you can fit a child on, and a door between the bedroom and alcove for privacy, sixth floor Mary Curry Tressider Suite, Library Suite, Underwood room, Sunroom Suite (Sun Porch), Mather, Spencer.
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casual, fast (grab and go)
or with table-side service,
indoor and outdoor food service
