Yosemite Park Fee Hikes Coming This March

Visitors to Yosemite National Park will pay more to enter and camp overnight starting March 1.

A seven-day pass for each car entering Yosemite will rise from $20 to $25 or $30, depending on the season. Motorcycle fees will also rise slightly over the next two years.

Campers spending between $5 and $20 a night — depending on the campsite — will also pay roughly 20 percent more.

Officials say the last entrance fee increase in the park was in 1997, when fees were raised from $5 to $20 for private vehicles.

A look at the new fees:

Park spokeswoman Kari Cobb says fees are crucial to cover maintenance and infrastructure projects.

"We were able to take entrance fee money to reconfigure the south entrance," Cobb said. "We added lanes, there's a lot less congestion. People are coming into the park faster. And just the all around experience of getting into the park is less stressful."

Cobb says four million people visit the park annually and the higher fees will help deal with the wear and tear.

The park received more than 3,600 emails and Facebook comments and took those into consideration when revising the park fee hikes.