Not everyone succumbs to Yosemite Use Disorder (SUD). For those who don't, they might visit Yosemite National Park (YNP) and acknowledge its unique geologic features, its pristine meadows, and the multiple waterfalls that contribute to its scenic vistas, but they deny any overwhelming attachment to the Park.
However, for more than a few visitors to Yosemite, one trip to the Park sparks a love-at-first-sight attachment that endures throughout their lives. For them, nothing becomes more important than finding ways to satiate intense cravings to return, similar to how an addict seeks his/her “fix” by returning to the “high” he/she experiences from mind-altering substances. Consequently, repeat visits to the Park become part of the Yosemite “habit.”
John Muir would be a supreme example of such a Park “addict.” Throughout his writings, his readers could easily get the impression that he wrote under the influence of some illicit substance while experiencing the Yosemite “rush.” Note the following from his book, The Mountains of California (1894), as he describes a glacially formed meadow:
“With inexpressible delight, you wade out into the grassy sun-lake, feeling yourself contained in one of Nature's most sacred chambers, withdrawn from the sterner influences of the mountains, secure from all intrusion, secure from yourself, free in the universal beauty. And notwithstanding the scene is so impressively spiritual, and you seem dissolved in it yet everything about you is beating with warm, terrestrial human love, delightfully substantial and familiar.” - John Muir, The Glacier Meadows, Chapter 7, of The Mountains of California (1894).
Muir’s words accurately portray what many experience in Yosemite. People of all types and interests seek out the enriched feelings of light and drama produced by the vast assortment of intriguing scenes that stimulate one’s senses.
Interestingly, the late Elizabeth Vargas, a self-described alcoholic, details in her book, Between Breaths: A Memoir of Panic and Addiction, why “chasing the glow” of the “sweet feeling” of a few glasses of wine preoccupied her:
“The world is softer, smoother, more golden; the tension drains from the tightly clenched muscles in my neck and shoulders. I could finally breathe . . . The nervous worry and edginess I carried with me all day would melt away, and I would bask in a chardonnay glow . . .”
How near her words are to Muir’s when he describes the impact of “drinking” in Yosemite’s full glass of intoxicating splendor. Its impact on the hearts and minds of its visitors acts like a drug that brings relief from the everyday stress of modern life. As those stresses become more intense, it is no wonder that the prevalence of YUD has expanded rapidly, especially in recent years.
During the summer of 2023, in particular, “unprecedented” crowds have nearly overwhelmed the Park. KRON4 News reported that visitors recently waited four to five hours in line waiting to get through the entrance stations. During the July 1-4, 2023 weekend, the YNP Instagram page indicated that parking lots in Yosemite Valley filled by 8:30 a.m. This caused Park officials to turn away carloads near El Capitan Meadow since the Valley had reached capacity and no legitimate parking spaces remained.
Admittedly, the intense crowds may also be related to a few one-time events. For example, the heaviest winter snowpack in decades kept Tioga Pass entrance station (and Highway 120) closed longer than usual, directing people to Yosemite Valley, which is only about seven square miles of real estate. The wet winter also kept waterfalls flowing longer than usual, drawing more people to see their showy displays of abundant spray.
After limiting the number of visitors through a day-use reservation system for the last three years, Park officials went without it this summer. A stampede of visitors resulted. Additionally, five campgrounds were unavailable outside of Yosemite Valley due to refurbishment (i.e., Bridalveil Creek, Crane Flat, White Wolf, Yosemite Creek, and Tuolumne Meadows). As a result, 729 camping spots disappeared from availability, making the “rush” of Yosemite Valley the “drug” of choice.
A few drivers seeking to reach Yosemite Valley stated while waiting to get in the Park that they would drive as far as they could even if they learned parking had reached capacity and they would be turned away. That behavior sounds similar to what authors Sussman and Sussman (2011) found in their literature search to define addiction. They isolated five common elements of addictive behavior: (1) feeling different (e.g., the “high” one gets from being in Yosemite); (2) preoccupation with the behavior (e.g., desperation to get there despite closures); (3) temporary satiation (e.g., many Park visitors only stay a few hours in the Park and come back year after year while another large number make multiple visits a year); (4) loss of control (e.g., ignoring parking restrictions and other safeguards to experience the Park such as relieving oneself on the side of the road while waiting to get in the Park); and, (5) negative consequences (e.g., experiencing frustration over sitting in vehicles for hours on end only to be denied entrance to the Park).
In its effort to stem the increasing prevalence of YUD, the National Park Service (NPS) is accepting input for a “treatment” plan during its second “civic engagement” period from July 6th, 2023 through September 6th 2023. The community input will serve to formulate recommendations to provide a “fix” for YUD, especially for the peak summer months. Cicely Muldoon, the YNP Superintendent, summarized the intent of the plan by saying it will “address the intense congestion visitors are experiencing this summer and will serve as a guide to protecting Yosemite's resources and ensuring a high-quality visitor experience."
Whatever YNP comes up with, I, for one, will not seek treatment for YUD. I’ll remain an “addict” and keep coming back to get my “fix” from the Park and to satiate my cravings. I accept my preoccupation about being there; the temporary nature of the “rush” it provides while prompting me to return repeatedly; the loss of control I feel when trying to get reservations; and the negative consequences of failing to secure any while competing against my fellow YUD sufferers.
I will keep in pursuit of that “sweet feeling” Yosemite gives that makes “the world softer, smoother, more golden” and which “drains” the tension from the muscles in my neck and shoulders.
Like John Muir, I will dissolve myself in Yosemite’s “universal beauty” that beats all around me with “warm, terrestrial human love, delightfully substantial and familiar.” In other words, I will keep coming back to Yosemite. That’s the only “fix” I know for YUD.
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