How many people is too many in this much-loved US national park?

Nature lovers are flocking back to Yosemite in California, where a visitor cap in place since 2020 expires this week. Should it be renewed?

Alana ChristensenHomepage editor

Sep 28, 2022 – 5.00am

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Standing at the base of the Grizzly Giant – a 3000-year-old sequoia tree in California’s Yosemite National Park – I have to tilt my head all the way back just to see the top.

I stare at the base, trying to guess how many people holding hands it would take to reach around its huge girth, as my mind searches for ways to put its age in context.