Closed for repairs
Three large Yosemite campgrounds will be closed for rehab until 2023
Three large Yosemite National Park drive-in campgrounds — Tuolumne Meadows, Crane Flat, and Bridalveil Creek — will be closed all of next year for rehabilitation and upgrades, with the one at Tuolumne Meadows potentially remaining shuttered until 2025.
Together, the three campgrounds currently have more than 575 drive-in campsites. Each campground has sites with room for tents and RVS up to 35 feet long.
Bridalveil Creek, Crane Flat, and Tuolumne Meadows also have room for trailers, as long as 24 feet, 27 feet, and 35 feet, respectively. Campsites in Yosemite are supposed to be limited to six people per site.
Tuolumne Meadows Campground at 8,000 feet elevation is the largest in the park, with 304 sites on 140 acres. It’s about 2 hours, 20 minutes driving from downtown Sonora and about 1 hour, 15 minutes from the Big Oak Flat entrance on Highway 120. It includes a backpackers campground that will be relocated, seven group sites, and four horse sites.
‘Major’ plans at Tuolumne Meadows
Renovations at Tuolumne Meadows Campground are described as “major” and intended to implement a portion of the 2014 Tuolumne River Plan aimed at preserving the Tuolumne River, its meadows, and its water quality in the park.
The City and County of San Francisco own the water rights to the Tuolumne River above Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in the park. The Hetch Hetchy System provides water to 2.7 million people in the Bay Area.
The plan at Tuolumne Meadows Campground includes relocating 17 campsites away from the Tuolumne River; relocating the backpackers campground to the John Muir Trail trailhead; redesigned campsites with hardened parking pads; new picnic tables, food lockers, and fire rings in each campsite; upgrades for existing restrooms and two new restrooms; an updated water and sewer system; improved accessibility for people with disabilities, including the Dana Campfire Circle; and improved and simplified roads.
The number of campsites at the
campground is expected to remain the same.
Tuolumne Meadows Campground was first built in the early 1930s by Civilian Conservation Corps workers and expanded in the 1960s. The National Park Service estimates the campground hosts as many as 150,000 visitors annually.
The closure at Tuolumne Meadows Campground is scheduled through 2022 and 2023, though it could last through the end of 2024 depending on seasonal weather and the length of construction seasons each year.
No camping of any kind will be available at Tuolumne Meadows during the campground closure.
Tioga Road, which is Highway 120 inside the park, is currently closed from Crane Flat to Tioga Pass due to storms in October.
Crane Flat
Crane Flat Campground, at 6,200 feet with 162 sites, is about 15 minutes driving from the Big Oak Flat entrance, just west of the junction for Tioga Road and the Big Oak Flat Road that allows visitors from Tuolumne County access to Yosemite Valley.
Renovations at Crane Flat Campground are underway and also described as “major.” Plans include removal of some sites from ecologically sensitive areas; combination of some single sites into double sites, allowing up to 12 people to camp together; redesigned campsites with flat tent pads and eating areas; replacement of picnic tables, fire rings, and food lockers; improved access to some sites, restrooms and water spigots; drainage improvements; paved parking spurs; and rebuilt loop roads.
The total number of campsites at Crane Flat will be reduced from 166 to 151, with no reduction in overall capacity due to the combination of single sites into double sites.
Construction on the original Crane Flat Campground began in 1962 and it opened to the public in August 1964.
Crane Flat Campground is expected to be closed through next year and to reopen in 2023. No camping of any kind will be available at Crane Flat Campground during the closure.
Bridalveil Creek
Bridalveil Creek Campground, at 7,200 feet with 110 sites, is about 1 hour, 15 minutes driving from the Big Oak Flat entrance, on Glacier Point Road when Glacier Point Road is open. Glacier Point Road is expected to be closed for all of 2022 for repaving.
The plan at Bridalveil Creek Campground includes rehabilitation of the campground water system. Plumbing is expected to be replaced and more water spigots will be added. Water treatment equipment and a generator building will also be replaced.
Bridalveil Creek Campground is the only campground on Glacier Point Road. Its original water system dated to the 1950s and collected surface water from above the campground, though it has been served by groundwater since a well was drilled in a nearby meadow in the 1980s.
The campground closures in Yosemite leave about 10 other campgrounds with more than 800 campsites available in and near Yosemite Valley, some first-come, first-served, and some by reservation only.
Whether the park’s five High Sierra Camps, which can accommodate up to 13,000 visitors annually, will be open next year remains to be seen.
Aramark, the contracted park concession corporation, staged a month-long lottery for 2022 High Sierra Camp reservations in October.
The High Sierra Camps in Yosemite did not open in 2019 due to heavy snow during the 20182019 winter and remained closed in 2020 and this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the National Park Service, campground reservations in Yosemite are available in blocks of one month at a time, up to five months in advance, on the 15th of each month at 7 a.m. Pacific Time.
Nearly all campground reservations in Yosemite for the months of May through September and for some other weekends are filled the first day they become available, usually within seconds or minutes after 7 a.m. Pacific Time.
For information on available camping in Yosemite, visit www. recreation.gov online.