After visiting Mono Lake, CA, we wanted to go back home. Due to bad cellphone coverage we referred to the dutiful Garmin nüvi 250 to suggest a route. It looked something like this:

Yahoo Maps: Mono Lake Tufa State Reserve, Mono County, CA to San Francisco, CA

The route went via CA-108 and not through Yosemite National Park. We figured this was a good choice, because we just went through the park a day earlier: it was Memorial Day weekend and we knew that the park would just be crowded today as it was yesterday. Going via CA-108 instead of CA-120 W (through the park) added ~20 miles but it still felt like a good choice.

When the phone had better reception again, I was wondering what other map services would have suggested:

Google Maps, via CA-120 W, going through the park
Bing Maps, via CA-120 W, going though the park
Yahoo Maps, via CA-108
Mapquest (Is anyone using this any more?), via CA-108

So why would Google and Bing lead me through Yosemite National Park, adding even more traffic to the already car crowded forest? Both have access to traffic conditions, my Garmin nüvi 250 does not. Also, going through the park costs $20 per car. Sure, its landscape is just beautiful and we had already purchased a permit (Google wouldn't know that, right?) but it's still puzzling why anyone would suggest going through a designated wildlife area to save ~20 miles.