Yosemite National Park is a very popular national park located in California. People visit this national park all year for its pristine waterfalls, giant sequoia trees, and iconic views of Half Dome. You can hike, camp, or even go rock climbing! Depending on the season that you visit Yosemite National Park, you will get very different scenery.
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Getting There
If you are leaving from Los Angeles, it will take you about 5 hours to get to Yosemite National Park.
Make sure to read about any new road closures. You can check for alerts on their website.
Park Information
Hours: The park is open 24 hours every day.
Admission: You can either purchase an entrance pass for 7 days for $35 or get an annual pass. We got the annual pass (America the Beautiful) at REI for $79.99.
Internet & Cellular Service: Public wi-fi is available in the park.
Pets: Pets are allowed on paved areas and campgrounds but not on any trails.
Camping at Yosemite National Park
We have visited this national park before but we stayed at a lodge (read more about it here). Since that trip, Brea and I have gotten much more into camping and so decided to camp this time instead! And to do it in my Tesla, of course.
How To Get A Campground Reservation
There are no first-come, first-serve campsites here so a reservation is required.
The following campgrounds are open for reservation: Wawona, Upper Pines, Lower Pines, North Pines, Camp 4, Hodgdon Meadow, Tamarack Flat, White Wolf, and Yosemite Creek
The following campgrounds are closed in 2022: Tuolumne Meadows, Crane Flat , Bridalveil Creek, and Porcupine Flat Campgrounds
To reserve a campsite, you can either call the office or do it online. Doing it yourself online is the most efficient way.
Website: www.recreation.gov
Phone Number: 877/444-6777
(or 877/833-6777 for TDD)
(or 518/885-3639 from outside the US & Canada)
Campsites are released about 4 months in advance at 7AM on the 15th of the month.
Campsites get fully booked within minutes so to increase your chances of getting a reservation, we highly recommend creating an account and looking at all the campsites prior to the day so that you know exactly which ones you’re going for. It will also help if you are open to other campsites. Check here for more details on specific sites.
There are no electric hook-ups here either so we had to make sure to have enough charge to run the heater all night.
Upper Pines Campground
After several months of waking up at the crack of dawn and vigorously trying to get a reservation, I finally managed to get one in October 2021! Although we would have loved to go when it was warmer, we were still glad to get a campsite at all.
The campsite number we got was 150 but when we checked in, the previous occupants were not checked out yet so they moved us to a different location that was next to the campground hosts.
Check-in time: 12PM
Check-out time: 12PM
There are several campground regulations so make sure to read them. One of the important ones is that you always need to store your food in the provided locker since there are bears around.
Camping in October means the weather can drop to 30s and below at night. It was pretty cold at night but our friend brought a giant teepee that could fit 5 of us, 2 dogs, a table, camping chairs as well as a portable heater. We stayed in there all night haha.
It was really nice to camp at Upper Pines as you are surrounded by trees. We were also close to some hiking trails!
