Camping with no reservations.....

Hi all, thanks to all that read my 'failed reservation' post and have suggested some things. I'm considering some of the non-reservation sites now and I have a few questions/concerns. We were planning on having a group of 12 or less people coming and its pretty unsettling to bring that many ppl to hunt for first-come-first-serve campsites. I don't know what we would do if we went up there and couldn't find anything!
So I'm wondering what would be the best day to secure sites at places like Tamarack Flat or any other no reservation site. We were planning for an August 15-18 trip, Sat-Tues. I feel like arriving on Saturday morning would be kind of a stretch... I don't mind moving our arriving date around a bit.

Lastly does anyone of any FAQs on these first come first serve campgrounds? I'd like to know what I'm about to get into! =) Also anyone know what time check-in and check-out times are for these sites?

Thanks everyone!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/2009 03:00PM by fauxoriginality.

Here's a list of all the Yosemite campgrounds, with maps.

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/campground.htm

Saturday arrival in August...you may have some difficulty, but I don't know for sure. Tam Flat is pretty rough (the road, the services, etc), so unless you are all ok with that (and you aren't bringing a big RV!), you may want to try TM. They only take 50% reservations, but again, coming on Saturday may not get you a site...

If you just can't find anything in the park, there are plenty just east of the Tioga Pass entrance, so it's not like you'd be bringing a bunch of people for nothing.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/2009 02:44PM by cthenn.

You might have trouble on Saturday morning. But Sunday morning should work very well. I usually arrive around 9 am when I'm camping in one of those non-reserved campgrounds, but that often leaves me waiting for people to finish packing up. I've never failed to get a site at Yosemite Creek this way (only had to wait around because I wanted a specific site).

Another posibility is Crane Flat Campground. It won't be on the reservation system this year due to water system repair work.