Posted on December 31, 2025 06:12 AM
This past September, some members Dr Yosemite National Park The search and rescue team met on-site at the base of El Capitan, clad head to toe in their climbing gear. Due to the nature of their work, SAR Siters, as the group is called, must be able to climb sheer cliffs like El Capitan for rescue work on famous climbing routes around the valley.
The SAR Siters weren’t at El Cap for a rescue—they were going to climb the famed route The Nose in a day-long push for fun. Due to the lack of SAR calls, the team had ample free time for adventure.
“I think we went about a month without a SAR,” said Katy Stockton, a 2025 Valley SAR siter. outside. “We were wondering what to do and haven’t been paged in a long time.”
There were long stretches of inactivity during periods of national interest in YOSAR. In August, the website Politico published a story about how federal cuts to the National Park Service are affecting Yosemite. After filing a public records request, Politico Search and rescue missions that have been found Yosemite rose 40 percent between January and July compared to 2024 numbers.
The report came as a surprise to Stockton and other members of the YOSAR community.
“These statistics are always so interesting,” Stockton said outside. “Because there are a lot of things that have to be taken into account that aren’t right.”
outside Stockton spoke with other members of YOSAR and a park spokesperson to dig into the statistics and try to understand why the rescue was in 2025. It’s been an odd season—busy in the spring, quiet in late summer, then three rescues in two weeks on El Capitan in October. These sources helped us analyze the statistics, and also provided an explanation as to why the volume of SAR calls is likely to increase for the foreseeable future.
SAR continues to climb
outside The National Park Service was reached for comment on the story, and the agency provided updated metrics on the rescue. As of November 12, Yosemite has conducted 235 SAR events in 2025. This is the highest since 2018.
In 2024, there were a total of 194 SAR missions – 21 percent less than this year. Here’s a breakdown of rescues vs inspections over the past few years:
- 2018: 235 SAR calls, 4,161,087 visitors
- 2019: 225 SAR calls, 4,586,463 visitors
- 2020 (*COVID): 112 SAR calls, 2,360,812 visitors
- 2021: 214 SAR calls, 3,343,988 visitors
- 2022: 196 SAR calls, 3,812,316 visitors
- 2023: 178 SAR calls, 4,057,237 visitors
- 2024: 194 SAR calls, 4,285,729 visitors
An NPS representative cited Yosemite’s busy year as a reason for the increase in SAR activity. According to current projections, the park could see 4.4 to 4.5 million visitors in 2025, making it the sixth most visited NPS site in the country.
“This year may be the second busiest on park record,” a park representative wrote in an email. “As visitation increases, the number of SARs increases proportionally. Several factors may contribute to this trend, including expanded access, improved visitor reservation systems, and possibly greater use of personal technology.”
The NPS spokesperson did not mention the government incident shutdown, which lasted 43 days, the longest in history. National news reports circulated amid the shutdown about Yosemite’s apparent lawlessness: Busy climbing routes, BASE JUMPERand squatting in the meadow.
But a source at Yosemite EMS said outside The total number of SAR calls during the shutdown did not increase significantly compared to 2024 numbers. According to the numbers provided by the source, there were 16 SARs between October 1 and November 6 – the same as in 2024.
“Search and rescue operations in Yosemite were fully operational during the shutdown,” an NPS spokesperson said outside. “Yosemite National Park sees BASE jumping activity every year, and law enforcement rangers are naturally responding to incidents. Some media reports have exaggerated the routine problems that occur in a busy park.”
A busy 2025 inside the park
Apart from the increase in visits, sources said outside Other changes that may contribute to the high number of SAR calls
In 2024, one of the park’s main arteries, Tioga Road, which runs through Yosemite’s High Country and Tuolumne Meadows, was under construction. This made it challenging for climbers, hikers and campers to find parking, discouraging many of them from visiting Yosemite’s high country.
“During construction, the Tioga was very difficult to drive,” Stockton said outside. “And you couldn’t park at any of the trailheads, so there was nobody.”
Additionally, the campground, store, and Tuolumne SAR site did not open last year, making it unlikely that many people would recreate there. The construction was completed this year. More visitors traveled to Tuolumne Meadows and the backcountry.
Other sources said outside The growth of smartphones, smartwatches and other devices with SOS technology may also contribute to the increase in SAR calls.
“I think SARs may be on the upswing because there’s something satellite-capable iPhones and inReach devices“A SAR Siter team member said. “It’s a huge deal. This means that people have easy access to dialing 911 Almost everyone who spends time in the backcountry now has an Inreach
Other reasons for the increase in SAR calls
Despite increased calls for backcountry SAR teams, general emergency calls — those accessed by road — remained closed, a source at Yosemite’s emergency medical services said. outside. A drop in emergency calls—from fires, accidents to law enforcement needs—adds another wrinkle to SAR statistics.
“I think every season has a theme,” Stockton added. “Three years ago, it was a year of searches—just constant searches that went on for months. And we haven’t had a single search this year that I know of. Last year was a year of body recovery, a year of a lot of casualties. This year was a year of technology rescue.”
A spokesperson of NPS informed this information outside Technical rescues — those involving helicopters, rope systems and rigging — increased in 2025 compared to 2024.
“In 2025, Yosemite conducted 19 short-haul missions, five operational heli-rapels and three operational hosts,” the NPS spokesperson wrote. “Three hoist missions and at least six short routes were for climbers. Climbing-related rescues remain a major component of the park’s helicopter SAR operations.”
Perhaps bigger than the SAR count, the 2025 unit was that Yosemite EMS workers were asked to do more, sometimes even for free. In 2025 many seasonal NPS employees suffered casualties due to DOGE cuts at the beginning of their season and the season ended in the middle of the government shutdown.
“Nobody had any idea if they had a job at the beginning of the season,” Stockton said. outside. “But people showed up and worked anyway, hoping they’d get paid back. Then the season ended, everyone lost their jobs again because of the government shutdown.”
When resources were at their lowest in 2025, nonprofits like the Yosemite Conservancy and Friends of YOSAR donated money to ensure that the SAR site established in the 1960s would still exist in 2025. And backcountry and frontcountry workers come together – in their own time – to teach each other their work, teaching SAR to SAR. Teaching doctors rigging and rappelling.
“We coached each other because we weren’t sure how resources would be allocated to emergencies this year. In times of stress, people came together to make it better than ever. People care, and it really showed this season.”