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Plan for Yosemite

The nearest airports to Yosemite National Park are San Francisco, Oakland, San José and Sacramento (two to three-and-a-half hours’ driving time). These bring you to the western entrance to the park. From Los Angeles, it’s a six-hour drive and the route brings you to the park’s southern entrance. Car-rental services are available at all these airports and need to be booked in advance.

Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System offers bus transport to and from Yosemite National Park. For the latest schedules, visit www.yarts.com

* Visitors’ passes are available at the park entrance and may be purchased depending on the duration of your visit

* The National Park Service Rangers offer a two hour long Valley Floor Tour, which covers all the sites

* For advance reservation (rooms or activities) inside the park, call 00-1-559 252 4848, or visit www.yosemitepark.com

* For bed and breakfast establishments outside the park, consult the Internet; the nearest B&B might be about 20km away

* The Yosemite Accessibility Guide (wheelchair access) is available at the park entrance, visitors’ centres and at www.nps.gov/yose/access

* An emergency medical clinic is open 24 hours a day in the Yosemite Valley

Absolute essentials for visitors include:

* A map of California State, and AAA’s local county maps for drivers (as well, of course, as an adequate supply of fuel)

* Outdoor Recreation Maps that highlight hiking trails and the High Sierra Camps (for anyone intending to hike)

* Food and beverages for the planned activities (cafeterias are few and the queues may be long)

* Comfortable footwear and other gear

Bears in Yosemite

Yosemite is home to 300-500 American black bears. Black bears are omnivores and will eat almost anything. Once a bear is rewarded by obtaining human food, it will often continue to seek it out. As their natural fear of people fades, they may become more aggressive. When human safety is threatened, bears are sometimes killed by park rangers.