Every summer I take my sons up to Yosemite Valley for a weekend of bicycle riding and exploring. We usually stay at Housekeeping Camp or in the Curry Village tent cabins. This year we want to stay in a campground instead...
What campground(s) do you guys recommend? I'm asking in March because I'm sure we'll need to reserve a spot for this summer asap.

Many thanks!
Will Hart

I've always liked upper pines. At least that'll keep your kids away from the drugs and debauchery of Camp 4... and numerous other stereotypes i'm sure i've contributed to in the past.

Although some unwilling to make the drive, depending on what time of year you go, there is a campground about 30-40 mins from the Valley proper called Hodgdon meadows...You get away from the overabundance of commercialized tourism and you're very close to Tuolomne too...they have both car camping and rv sites...I once went in October, perfect weather EVERY day for 3 weeks and only 2-5 people in the entire campground that probably has close to 60 sites...

1000Pks wrote: Nowadays, they'll possibly have guns.

Those are to protect themselves from the MLC SC.

My brother-in-law checked 2 weeks ago for reservations for tent sites and they were all booked for the summer. If I remember correctly, outside of the Valley Floor, like Glacier Point and Tuolomne Meadows there a a few campgrounds that are first come first served. Years ago I camped in both areas and it is nice, you would just have to drive into the Valley. The Valley Floor is chaos from June - September, very crowed. You would be better off taking your sons out of school and going anytime before Memorial Day Weekend. Good luck! Troy

At this point, you would basically have to call every day and check for cancelations if you hope to get a reservation for this summer. That's how I always get my housekeeping reservations and I've gotten them as close to our dates and a couple days.

I agree that Upper Pines is probably the best call. Reservations may be another issue, as someone has already said. Sometimes you can score last minute cancellations. Maybe reserve a tent in Curry, and if you get lucky with a site, cancel Curry.

If you're willing to roam further, Tuolumne Meadows is awesome, has a nice campground that, even if full, you can usually find a site in by lining up for cancellations first thing in the morning. Another great place that side of the park is Sawmill Campground, near Saddlebag Lake. You have to walk in about a 1/4 mile or so to get to the first sites, but you can usually find something and the setting is glorious.

Unless they have changed the policy, Tuolumne Meadows holds a number of campsights for first-come, first-serve. They start releasing them at 8:00 am or so each morning, so you need to get there early. Check the Yosemite website for details.

It is a bit of a drive and in a bit of a drier climate, but the three campgrounds at Briceburg are always great options when you can't get anything in the Valley. It is a bit further than driving down from Hogdon or Crane Flat, but the bonus is you get to camp right on the Merced River. I am sure they fill up at some point, but I have never seen them full.

whats up with Camp 4? every summer that we pedal the valley floor we always roll through there and play on the boulders. It doesn't seem like a bad place...

I second the tuolumne idea...

When I think Yosemite I like to try and think tuolumne. An often overlooked fact I like to spout is that the valley accounts for 1% of Yosemite's total area (correct me if I'm wrong...maybe that was just a marketing ploy that I fell for). Take the kids up to explore something off the (severely) beaten path. I remember being a kid up in tuolumne and it was other worldly. Plenty of cycling up there too if you still wanna do that. Just ride along the river for a bit, over to lembert, hike to the top, etc.

We really enjoy the biking opportunities that the Valley floor offers; 8 +/- miles of paved, flat bike paths.
As a parent I like that we can ride our bikes in National Park, and not share our path with cars. Whose drivers aren't exactly paying attention to traffic, or the road..
Plus we never have to look for a parking spot and can stop where ever we want to climb on a boulder, check out a creek or throw our frisbee in a meadow.
I know Tuolumne is rad, but it's a lot further of a drive from here in Visalia. Does Tuolumne have designated bike paths/lanes?

We live an hour from Sequoia and 1.5 from Kings Canyon NP's. So Seki is where we do most of our camping and backpacking. So we're not really looking to get away from it all on these annual Yosemite bike trips, plus we love stopping at the stores and grabbing a snack and to do some 'people watching'.

We think a camping trip in the Valley this summer is in order.. if we can snag a spot.

I'll post a pic of us on last years trip in my photos, since I don't know how to attach to this message. We stayed in a Curry Village tent. Its was alright, maybe a 7 outta 10?

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squishy wrote:upper pines

sweet, thanks!