Yosemite National Park is the number one most visited National Park in the United States by campers each year. In 2014, 166,744 RV’s and 480,094 tent campers visited the park. With those kind of numbers, Yosemite was on the top of our list to visit.
Yosemite: Camping in the Valley
There are three campgrounds in Yosemite Valley; Lower, Upper and North Pines. All three campgrounds are pretty packed in and don’t offer any privacy. Lower Pines Campground is our pick overall for space and sunlight. Pictured above is site #18. It won’t work for big rigs, but a truck-camper or a van would fit fine. There are a couple other sites with good views posted in the Lower Pines photo gallery.
Site #506 in North Pines Campground, is also quite small (tents, truck-campers, vans) but sits right next to the river and has nothing but forest and view behind it.
Sites #115 – #135 at North Pines are the closest to the stables, and if the breeze is blowing towards the campground, well you get the idea.
Campsites that can accommodate 27 foot trailers (according to the call-center):
Lower Pines – 20, 27, 38, 50,
North Pines – 323, 111, 128, 125, 403, 116
Upper Pines was just as packed in as the other two campgrounds, and for some reason when I called for info on sites to accommodate our rig, they didn’t give us any options in Upper Pines.
The Yosemite Valley dump station is located right outside of the Upper Pines and serves all three campgrounds.
Yosemite: Camping outside the Valley
Crane Flat Campground is a 30 minute drive to Yosemite Valley. There are hills and boulders throughout providing some privacy and the campground was pretty empty when we visited in June 2015. Crane Flat is our pick for camping near the Valley without the crowds.
Forty minutes in the opposite direction of Yosemite Valley is Wawona Campground. If you don’t mind the drive, the campground is a lot nicer than the ones in the Valley, and the nearby Wawona Hotel serves a nice lunch!
We visited all of the campgrounds in Yosemite National Park (not all mentioned in this post), so be sure to check all of the photo galleries for those before you make your pick on where to stay.
None of the campgrounds in the National Park offer hookups. For that you’ll have stay outside of the park. We didn’t have time to explore those options, and would love your recommendations for RV Parks outside of Yosemite National Park.
