News: Parks Busy With Timed Entry Gone, Hunting Expanded in National Parks, New Lincoln Memorial Tour

Parkography

RV Miles Network

Nature, Society & Culture, History, Society & Culture:places & Travel, Science, Places & Travel

4.8 • 911 Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2026

⏱️ 12 minutes

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Summary

This week in national parks and public lands news, Yosemite is already dealing with major traffic headaches after dropping its reservation system, Arches could be moving toward a shuttle future, and Grand Teton visitors should prepare for a summer full of construction delays. We’ll also talk about a new proposal to stop staffing cuts at public lands agencies, a major land donation at the Smokies, expanded hunting and fishing access at park sites, and a brand-new experience opening underneath the Lincoln Memorial. Join our mailing list at https://rvmiles.com/parkography 00:00 Headlines Preview00:40 Yosemite Traffic Chaos02:57 Arches Shuttle?04:40 Grand Canyon North Rim Reopens06:05 Grand Teton Construction Season07:06 Hunting and Fishing Expansion08:53 Bill to Stop Staffing Cuts09:57 Smokies Land Donation10:37 Lincoln Memorial Undercroft11:44 Wrap Up and Mailing List

Transcript

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0:00.0	This week, Yosemite is dealing with major traffic headaches after dropping its reservation system.
0:06.1	Arches could be moving toward a shuttle in the future to solve the same problem,
0:10.2	and Grand Teton visitors should prepare for a summer full of construction delays.
0:15.2	There's a new proposal to stop staffing cuts at public lands agencies.
0:19.5	A major land donation will expand Great Smoky Mountains
0:22.4	National Park. Hunting and fishing is being expanded in some National Park Service sites,
0:27.4	and a brand new experience is opening up underneath the Lincoln Memorial. All that and more
0:32.6	coming up. I'm Jason Epperson. This is Parkography, and it's time for the latest in National Park in Public Lands News.
0:39.4	Welcome back, everybody. First up, Yosemite National Park is already seeing major congestion during its first summer without a timed entry reservation in five years.
0:48.3	With visitors reporting hours-long entrance lines, packed parking lots, overcrowded shuttle stops, and illegal roadside
0:55.1	parking throughout the park. According to park visitation data, Yosemite has seen over 100,000
1:00.9	more visitors arrived by car so far this year, a 15% increase and a 39% drop in visitors
1:08.4	arriving by bus compared to the same period last year. The drop in bus
1:12.3	traffic is likely due to a drop in international visitors on private tour buses due to some of
1:17.9	those international visitor fees. Many visitors describe chaotic conditions, especially on busy weekends,
1:24.2	with some saying parking in Yosemite Valley was essentially gone by early morning.
1:28.2	Now I've seen mixed reporting on this. I've seen lots of articles and then lots of comments
1:32.6	on those articles saying things like, I'm here now. What are you talking about? It's not crowded
1:37.6	at all. And I think the reality is that both sides are right. It's getting really bad on busy weekends
1:43.4	during peak hours, but you
1:45.2	could still have a good experience on off days. And if you come in the morning or the late afternoon,
1:50.2	it was particularly bad over Memorial Day weekend, but it's not just holidays. A viewer sent in
	...

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