Yosemite National Park Permit Guide 2026
Lottery permit · Last-minute friendly
California · No dogs in the backcountry
By Casey Rowan, Permit Ranger
Last updated
Yosemite National Park protects the granite domes, waterfalls, and high country of California's central Sierra Nevada, from Tuolumne Meadows and the Cathedral Range to the John Muir and Pacific Crest Trails. A Yosemite wilderness permit is required for overnight backcountry trips, and the park's most coveted trailheads are awarded by a competitive weekly lottery months in advance.
Yosemite National Park issues its wilderness permits through recreation.gov, and popular passes sell out ahead of the season. 60% of quota is awarded by weekly lottery 24 weeks ahead; unclaimed lottery permits release Fridays at 9:00 AM Pacific. The remaining 40% opens 7 days before entry at 7:00 AM Pacific. (Half Dome lottery is separate.) Permit Ranger watches every pass here and alerts you the moment a sold-out date opens.
When permits are released
60% of quota is awarded by weekly lottery 24 weeks ahead; unclaimed lottery permits release Fridays at 9:00 AM Pacific. The remaining 40% opens 7 days before entry at 7:00 AM Pacific. (The Half Dome cables lottery is its own permit area.)
Your odds
Yosemite is unusually transparent: the park publishes its wilderness lottery statistics every year. Across recent seasons, roughly 30 percent of applications in the weekly rolling lottery have won a permit reservation.
Odds swing sharply by date and trailhead. For start dates in the peak window from mid July through mid August, around 70 percent of applications fail, while success climbs above 50 percent for mid-September starts. Donohue Exit trailheads (the southbound John Muir Trail) are the most requested and most competitive in the park.
Each weekly lottery is independent, so persistent applicants with flexible dates usually get through eventually. Unclaimed quota is released first-come-first-served after each lottery, and cancellations return dates all summer.
Source: NPS Yosemite wilderness permit statistics (nps.gov/yose, 2022-2025 lottery summaries). Last checked July 2026.
Fees
- Reservation: $10 per permit
- Per person: $5 per person
How to get a Yosemite National Park permit
- Choose your entry trailhead and entry date. Many popular trailheads (and Donohue Pass-eligible JMT starts) are in high demand.
- Apply for the weekly lottery, which awards 60% of the quota 24 weeks ahead of the entry week.
- If you don't win the lottery, watch for unclaimed lottery permits, which are released first-come-first-served on the Friday after the lottery week at 9:00 AM Pacific.
- You can also try for the remaining 40% of the quota, which opens 7 days before the entry date at 7:00 AM Pacific. Book on recreation.gov under the Yosemite wilderness permit (445859).
- If your dates are sold out, keep watching - cancellations return quota to recreation.gov at no set time, and Permit Ranger can alert you when a spot reopens.
Notable trails
Yosemite's wilderness trailheads lead to legendary high country and waterfall routes. A few of the most popular hikes:
- White Wolf to Aspen Valley Trail - 5.0 on AllTrails
- Glacier Point to Yosemite Valley (Panorama Trail) - 4.9 on AllTrails
- Vernal and Nevada Falls via Mist Trail - 4.9 on AllTrails
- Half Dome via the John Muir Trail (JMT) - 4.9 on AllTrails
- Upper Yosemite Falls, North Dome, Indian Rock, and Snow Creek Trail - 4.9 on AllTrails
- Nelson Lake Trail - 4.9 on AllTrails
- Taft Point and The Fissures - 4.9 on AllTrails
- Cathedral Peak: Climber's Approach - 4.8 on AllTrails
Top passes in this area
The most in-demand Yosemite National Park entry points, each with its own detail page.
- Cathedral Lakes
- Happy Isles->Past LYV (Donohue Pass Eligible)
- Happy Isles->Little Yosemite Valley (No Donohue Pass)
- Sunrise (No Donohue Pass)
- Glacier Point->Little Yosemite Valley
- Lyell Canyon (Donohue Pass Eligible)
- Rafferty Creek->Vogelsang
- Lyell (No Donohue Pass)
Frequently asked questions
When do Yosemite National Park permits open?
What if my dates are sold out?
Does Permit Ranger book the permit for me?
More permits in California
- Desolation Wilderness permit guide
- Half Dome Cables permit guide
- Hoover Wilderness permit guide
- Inyo National Forest permit guide
- Joshua Tree National Park permit guide
- Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks permit guide
- Sierra National Forest permit guide
Permits awarded by lottery
- Angels Landing permit guide
- Glacier National Park permit guide
- Grand Canyon National Park permit guide
- Half Dome Cables permit guide
- Mount Rainier permit guide
- North Cascades permit guide
- The Enchantments permit guide
- Yellowstone National Park permit guide
Last-minute & walk-up friendly permits
- Cedar Mesa (Bears Ears) permit guide
- Central Cascades Wilderness permit guide
- Glacier National Park permit guide
- Grand Teton National Park permit guide
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park permit guide
- Hoover Wilderness permit guide
- Indian Peaks: Last-Minute permit guide
- Inyo National Forest permit guide
Plan ahead
- The Half Dome lottery, explained
- John Muir Trail permits
- JMT Trip Builder
- Plan a southbound JMT thru-hike from Yosemite
- Wilderness permit release calendar
Sold-out dates reopen all the time from cancellations and quota drops. Permit Ranger checks recreation.gov around the clock and alerts you the moment your dates open. It never books for you.
Browse Yosemite National Park passes · Book on recreation.gov