Yosemite Car Camping

 

 

Overview

Yosemite National Park has 13 popular car accessible campgrounds. From that, seven are available in advance through the park's online reservation system; the remaining six are for walk-ins only.  Broken down by area, you have:

  • Yosemite Valley - Upper Pines, Lower Pines, North Pines, Camp 4

  • South of Yosemite Valley - Wawona, Bridalveil Creek

  • North of Yosemite Valley - Hodgdon Meadow, Crane Flat, Tamarack Flat, White Wolf, Yosemite Creek, Porcupine Flat, Tuolomne Meadows

Of these primary campgrounds, only four are open year around, while the rest are open either part or most of the season (usually due to snow levels). 

You can also find additional campgrounds just outside every major entrance to the park (i.e. Summerdale, Tioga Pass, etc.), which are included below as well.  

For information on backcountry campgrounds, see our Backcountry Camping Permits section. 

 

The Reservation Process

The table on the right maps out key information for picking a Yosemite campground.  The three most important factors to consider here are 1) the campground's proximity to Yosemite Valley, 2) dates its open during the season, and 3) whether or not it takes advanced reservations.

If you're new to Yosemite, understand that camping options are usually limited during warmer months, regardless of where you stay.  Each campground has its own pros and cons.  The closer you are to Yosemite Valley itself, the more crowded your campground is likely to be.  You'll also be a lot closer to the park's most iconic features.

Year-Around vs. Seasonal Campgrounds

Four Campgrounds Are Open Year-Around - Upper Pines, Camp 4, Wawona and Hodgdon Meadow.  The nine remaining campgrounds are closed either most or part of the year.  These mostly higher elevation campgrounds are only open during a limited time during warmer months.  Opening dates vary each year and depend primarily on snow levels from the previous winter season.

Snagging a Campsite is Tricky in the Summer - It gets much easier once the summer campgrounds open up.  There's a window in May and June that gets especially tricky once warm weather starts bringing heavy traffic to the park, but while the higher elevation campgrounds are still closed due to snowpack.

Advanced Reservation Campgrounds

Making a Reservation - Reserve your Yosemite campsite at Recreation.gov.  You can also find a really helpful guide on NPS.gov that walks through the Recreation.gov reservation process.

Book Five Months In Advance -  Reservations become available online in month-long blocks at a time five months prior to your desired month of arrival.  Specific release dates are on the 15th of each month at exactly 7am PST.  For example, any reservation you want to make from July 15 - August 14 becomes available for booking on March 15th at 7am PT.  See here for more details.

Campsites Fill Immediately - During the months of May through September, nearly all reservations are filled the first day they become available, usually within seconds or minutes after 7am.  

Don't Count on Last Minute Openings - From April through September, reservations are essential and cancellations are unreliable for all seven reservable campgrounds.  Open spots commonly become available last-minute--you just don't want to count on it.

Walk-in Only Campgrounds

Many campgrounds in Yosemite are not open for reservations and are available on first-come, first serve basis each day.  Here are a couple tips to help you snag one of those spots.

Stay Updated on Open Campgrounds - Check Yosemite's Campground Availability Status for daily updates on available campgrounds.

Arrive Early - On any given day during the busy season, many of the walk-in campsites are full by 8:30am and rarely later than 12pm; the earlier you can arrive, the earlier the better.

Camping In the Valley - Camp 4 is the only walk-in campground in Yosemite Valley.  It's extremely crammed, very difficult to get a spot, and almost exclusively occupied by the rock climbing community.  I wouldn't recommend taking your family here.

 

Click to Expand | Information courtesy via NPS.gov - Yosemite National Park

Click to Expand | Courtesy via NPS.gov - Yosemite National Park

Click to Expand | Courtesy via OnTheWorldMpa.com

 

Campsite Reservation Resources

These Guys Are Doing It Right

Campsite Reservation

Campground Research

 

 

The art of Finding last-minute campSites During Peak Season

Don't panic if you want to plan a last-minute trip and don't have a campsite reservation.  While campsites initially go quickly, it's easier than you'd think to find a campground within a few weeks or even days of your arrival date.  First, I've included a list of resources below to help you explore all your options.  If you have your heart set on a specific campground and nothing is available, call the reservation line below once or even several times a day if you have to--people drop their reservations all the time.

What I DON'T recommend is showing up on a Friday during peak season without a reservation expecting to get a walk-in campsite.  By Friday early afternoon, most Yosemite campgrounds are completely full.

If You NEED a Campsite In or Near Yosemite Valley Itself

These are the first options I run through in this scenario:

  • Bombard the Reservation Line - Check Recreation.gov and call Yosemite's reservation line daily

    • Yosemite Reservation Phone Line: (877)444-6777

    • Tamarack Flat, Crane Flat and Bridalveil Creek are 30 min. away or less if they're open for the season

    • If they're closed or full, Wawona Campground. It's beautiful, open year-around, and is still under an hour away from the Tunnel View entrance of Yosemite Valley: (209)375-9535

  • Be the First in Line at a Walk-in Campsite - Arrive really early (5-6am) - at Camp 4 and wait for a site to open up.

  • Pay Someone to Join to Theirs - If you're dead set on camping in the valley and have run out of options, offer someone with extra tent space $30-40 to let you pitch your tent on their site.

Excellent Campgrounds Just Outside the Park

I've included my four favorite campgrounds below--one at each entrance.  You can find many more in the Resources section below it:

  • Summerdale Campground (South Entrance) - Just two miles away from Yosemite's Wawona entrance and one hour away from Yosemite Valley, Summerdale Campgound sits in a scenic wildflower meadow surrounded by dense, beautiful Sierra Nevada forest.

  • Dirt Flat and Dry Gulch (West Entrance) - Don't listen to their names, Dirt Flat and Dry Gulch campgrounds are lush, green and beautiful campgrounds that lie along the Merced River near Yosemite's Arch Rock entrance, just 30-40 min. from Yosemite Valley itself.

  • Tioga Pass Campgrounds (East Entrance) - If you're visiting mid-summer, check out the Tioga Pass campgrounds.  Located just outside the east entrance of the park, Tioga Pass has 10 separate campgrounds with over 230 individual campsites in total,  The higher elevation sites lookout over Tioga Pass' alpine lakes and offer some of the most beautiful campsite views in the park.  We visited in late June and had the campground all to ourselves!  With all its beauty, there are a few downsides to camping here as well.  At 9,000+ ft, these campgrounds are only open for 2.5 months out of the year (at best).  It's cold as hell at night, even during the summer.  Finally, despite being inside the park, it's still a 1.5 hour drive to Yosemite Valley itself.  Note: If you stay near the east entrance, check Tioga Road Opening & Closing Dates to make sure you can actually drive through (late April through early November, you should be ok).

  • Dimond O Campground (Northwest Entrance) - Dimond O is located in the Stanislaus National Forest near Yosemite’s Big Oak Flat entrance, just under an hour drive from Yosemite Valley.  It's in the especially beautiful Middle Fork section of the Tuolumne River, a popular swimming and fishing area with several campsites that overlook the river.

Resources

 

Featured Last-Minute Campsites

Crane Flats

We found this campsite two weeks before our trip by calling and checking the reservation website.  Crane flats is great, but as you can see in the photo below, crammed full of tents in typical Yosemite fashion.

Photo: Crane Flats (hint: not that flat)

 

Tioga Pass - The Sawmill

We waltzed up with zero reservations on one of the most crowded weekends of the year and snagged this stellar campsite below.  Fathers Day weekend in June, beautiful weather forecasted, while President (at the time) Obama was in the park.  Even with that, we were still able to catch this stellar campsite below with almost no one else around.

Important to note, however, that your elevation is 9,500+ ft. at these campsites.  This area is only open during the warmest summer months, and for a good reason.  Even in late June, snow covered the mountains and hills all around us, and nights were cold--easily in the 20s and low 30s. Two days later, down in the valley, we were sleeping comfortably in hammocks.  Most of us weren't prepared for winter weather camping, so we ended up battling through two really cold nights.  In 2017, these campsites didn't open until August.

The Sawmill itself was beautiful because it was secluded. Some of the other Tioga Pass campgrounds had great scenery, but were basically extensions from a parking lot located just 50 ft off the main road, which in my opinion, sucks the air out of an adventure.

The east entrance campgrounds in Yosemite are a beautiful and often under explored area of the park. Even on your most crowded summer weekends, there are still PLENTY of beautiful places to explore.

 

White Wolf

Coming soon!!

Lee Vining Campsites

Coming soon!!

 
 

Like our content?

 
 

Come join us on our journey as we continue to build this awesome website!