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[Yosemite]

First time RV camping...first time in Yosemite

Discussion of camping and road-accessible campgrounds in and near Yosemite National Park

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First time RV camping...first time in Yosemite

Postby Marchengy » Mon Jun 05, 2017 12:04 am

Hello,
My name is Marco and I will travel to California this August with my family.
We are planning to visit Yosemite from July 31 to Aug 3rd with the RV we will rent in SFO on the 31st morning.
We had a look for available campsites and we figured out that they are all fully booked since weeks...therefore our plan would be: overnight outside of the NP on the 31st sine we would arrive late and on Aug 1st try to be early in the morning in Bridalveil campground to get on site FCFS.
Do you think it could work?
How are these First-Come-First-Served campground works? If I got one site and register for two nights, am I allowed to drive the RV out of the site and find it still empty when I come back?
Or if I leave the RV there, how can I reach Yosemite Valley or other park attractions?
Do you have any recommendations or tips for a newbie On RV?

Thank you
Marchengy
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Re: First time RV camping...first time in Yosemite

Postby AlmostThere » Mon Jun 05, 2017 7:11 am

Aug 1 is a Tuesday so you will likely be okay with getting a site at Bridalveil. The other campground that might work is Hogden over at Big Oak Flat entrance. Many of those sites are also FCFS. If you register you are given a tag with the dates of your stay to post at the site. If someone ignores the posted dates and occupies the site, there is a campground host to appeal to, who will tell the people to move out of your site. Leave a few items on the picnic table and that helps people understand the site is occupied - a plastic tub, a lamp, or a couple of camp chairs at the fire ring are a good visual aid for folks driving around looking for campsites.

Keep looking at recreation.gov. People do cancel trips. I've gotten reservations in the valley floor a week before I went because of that.
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Re: First time RV camping...first time in Yosemite

Postby Marchengy » Mon Jun 05, 2017 2:14 pm

Thank you for the detailed answer and advices.

What do you suggest for July 31st night? Any specific campground or other options?
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Re: First time RV camping...first time in Yosemite

Postby AlmostThere » Mon Jun 05, 2017 2:18 pm

If you are coming into the park via 120 (seems likely from SF) you could simply go check at Hogdon as it is on that side of the park. Monday is the day after Sunday, all the weekend visitors depart Sunday. I would not be surprised if there were campsites available at Hogdon. When you look at the website for reservations in Hogdon all you will see is full - because there are a lot of websites that they keep for FCFS that you cannot reserve at all. Those will be empty sometimes Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday because weekends are the busiest days.

There are campgrounds also in the national forest outside the park. Look at the forest service website for Stanisaus National Forest -- some of those campsites are not reservable either. Some of them are. The website will tell you how to reserve one.
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