Yosemite National Park offers camping and plenty of recreation centered around the park's beautiful waterfalls, granite mountains and green valleys. You'll find campgrounds both in the park and just outside it in several national forests that surround the area. All of the campgrounds offer close access to outdoor recreation, including fishing, hiking, swimming and whitewater rafting.
What You'll Need
If you plan to fish, you'll need to buy a California state fishing license. Stop by Yosemite Village Sport Shop or the Curry Village Mountain Shop, both located in the park, to buy your permit. Since bears call Yosemite home, you'll need to keep all food, coolers and toiletries inside your vehicle when not in use. Doing so will help to prevent unwelcome encounters with bears.
Types of Campgrounds
Yosemite Park offers 13 campgrounds for tent campers and RV's up to 40 feet in length. You will not find hookups in the park. Amenities include picnic tables, fire rings, flush toilets and drinking water. Several national forests offer camping options outside the park. You can stay in Stanislaus, Sierra or Inyo National Forests. Amenities include vault toilets, picnic tables, fire rings and drinking water.
Camping in Yosemite Valley
The Yosemite Valley offers several campgrounds, including Lower, North and Upper Pines campgrounds. Upper Pines Campgrounds features the largest number of campsites in the valley, offering 238 sites. Jump on your bike for a ride on the 12-mile paved biking path in the valley. Head to the Lower Pines Campground to hike the easy 1-mile Lower Yosemite Falls Trail. For trout fishing, try your luck in the nearby stream from Happy Isles to Foresta Bridge.
Camping Outside Yosemite Valley
The park offers more campgrounds outside the valley, including Tuolumne Meadows with 314 campsites. For RVers, both Tuolomne Meadows and Wawona offer dump stations. You'll find primitive campgrounds at Porcupine Flat, Tamarck Flat and Yosemite Creek that offer pit toilets and water you must treat first before drinking. For hiking and rafting, head to Wawona Campground where you can hike past meadows of wildflowers on the 3.5 mile Wawona Meadow Loop. For more experienced hikers, try the 8.2 mile Chilnuaina Falls Trail. Whitewater rafters will find the South Fork of the Merced River near Wawona a good place to start heading downstream.
Camping in the National Forests
You'll find plenty of campsites in Stanislaus, Sierra and Inyo National Forests. All three forests offer sites just outside Yosemite National Park. The Sierra National Forest features the Jerseydale Campground located outside the town of Mariposa. Set up your base camp, then explore several trails that start near the campground, or take the trail to the Merced River to fish. In Inyo National Forest, try the Ellery Lake Campground for lakeside camping so you can swim, fish or hike around the lake. Stanislaus National Forest features Lumsden Bridge Campground, located near whitewater rafting opportunities. You can put in near the bridge next to the campground.
Member Comments