Favorite tent site in TUOLUMNE MEADOWS?

September 11, 2014 9:20 AM

I'm planning a trip to Yosemite next July (15) and have heard that we need to book the campsites about 5 months in advance. Sounds like people like Tuolumne Meadows, so I was wondering if you have been there and which tent specific campsites are the best? 5 people, a couple kids, no pets, looking for reasonable privacy, 3-4 days, drive in. Thanks!
posted by GernBlandston to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (5 answers total)

There is only one campground in Tuolumne Meadows. It's 50% reservations, 50% first-come-first-serve walk-ins. Any given site isn't necessary a reservation or a walk-in site; they're assigned between the two pools as needed. Like the rest of the park, they open up reservations in rolling windows, something like 3 months ahead of the window. It's very hard to get reservations (you basically have to be refreshing the reservations site the moment the clock rolls over on the morning that they open up), but the walk-in sites are constantly being turned over, so if you fail to get online reservations, you can always wait in line the morning of your first night in Tuolumne and get one of those sites, though it pays to be there early. I think they recently started opening the reservations office at 7:30am and it's not unheard of for people to start waiting in line an hour (or more, in peak season) in advance.

There are also various other options for camping, including less conveniently located campgrounds inside the park, plus campgrounds of varying levels of amenities (and legitimacy) outside the eastern exit of YNP.

With the recent trend in super dry winters and drought, Tuolumne has opened up fairly early the past couple years. In wet years, however, July 15th is not that far from when Tuolumne Pass opens up and services in the meadows actually start running, so you may want to have a backup plan if they haven't opened the campgrounds yet.
posted by strangecargo at 10:23 AM on September 11, 2014

My own experience with the TM campground is ~35 years old, so I don't have any specific campsites to recommend, but I would suggest reading some recent Yelp reviews:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/tuolumne-meadows-campground-yosemite-yosemite

Not all reviews are positive.

That said, I have friends that make a point of going there every year with their kids and swear by the place, so there is clearly a lot of variability in the quality of the TM camping experience.
posted by mosk at 10:25 AM on September 11, 2014

July 1st is the latest Tioga pass has opened since 1980, it'll definitely be open on the 15th of July next year. It's important that you plan your trip so that it falls entirely before or after the 15th of the month since reservations are taken starting at 7 Pacific time on the 15th of each month for a month long window starting four months in advance. Arriving the 13th and leaving the 16th would mean you'd need two different reservations.

So your July 15th arrival would mean you'd make a reservation at 7am Pacific time on March 15th at recreation.gov. Create your account in advance, be sure to be logged in to the website, navigate to the Tuolumne Meadows campground reservation page and start clicking the 'Reserve Now' button a minute or two before 7. Tuolumne is really not that difficult to get a site if you remember to do it first thing when the window opens.

The sites are assigned on arrival, you don't get to pick one in advance. If you arrive early in the day you can always go back to the kiosk if you find yourself in a site you don't like. Arriving after 5pm will mean you'll find your site number listed on the whiteboard at the entrance and will have no ability to change sites.
posted by foodgeek at 11:31 AM on September 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

We went the last week of June/first week of July this year and were able to get a walk-up site at Tuolomne, even on a Saturday. We had come in from backpacking and planned to stay at the backpackers' campsite, but got a "regular" space when we saw that a few were still open that afternoon. By the evening, though, all the sites were taken.

We asked for (and got) a site away from the RVs. I want to say it was over by loop D or E. There were some trees that gave a bit of privacy. The campsite was perfectly fine, but not particularly memorable.

If you don't get what you like in Tuolomne, or you want a change, there are some cool National Forest campgrounds outside the eastern entrance.
posted by bbq_ribs at 12:58 PM on September 11, 2014

I've stayed in a few sites there, and I've never had an issue with any of them. And like foodgeek says up above, you choose on arrival.

If you are super sensitive to noise, I'd make sure to not be right next to the volunteer search and rescue peeps. You can ask the rangers where they are. It's not that they are loud, it's just a group of kids in their early 20's on summer vacation who stay up a bit later than then the usual camp goer. And I mean quite conversations around the campfire, not alcohol fueled all night raging parties.
posted by sideshow at 12:48 PM on September 18, 2014