Re: Help with Lower Pines

I am asking a favor of anyone going to Yosemite in the next 2 months. If while in Yosemite, can you snap a photo of Lower pines Campsite 50. The photo at yosemitecampsites isn't clear, i have a trailer with slide outs and it is pretty long, i am trying to see if it fits. Thanks my fellow forum members.

On another note, I now know why i enjoy backpacking. This whole campsite reservation systems sucks. I decided to take my 3 kids there for their first trip. They loving camping but i have always stayed in curry village with them. I was logged on two computers with the wife and within 5 seconds every campsite was booked. I ended up getting one ten minutes later when someones must of timed out from them canceling it. It is pure madness. I am going to need some solitude after this trip i am sure.

That site is 40' long. Does your trailer and vehicle fit in that length?

Look at the photo for site 55 and it will give you a little more idea of what that your site looks like. 55 is right behind your site and the photo looks back at your site (note the motor home in site 50). What is the length of you trailer? 50 is a pretty large site as it is a double wide driveway with a depth of 33 feet for each side and no obstructions right behind it so if you have a super long trailer you could actually hang over the back of the driveway bumper probably another 8 feet or so, depending on how long your trailer extends past your back wheel. Bottom line its not a bad site as Yosemite sites go and being double wide you should be able to fit the rig in there and put out your slide outs. It would depend of course on where your slideouts are in your trailer and how long your tow vehicle is, which you will be parking next to your trailer. So how long is your trailer and what are you going to be towing it with and when are you going? I'll be there the frist week of May if you can wait for pics. by then. If you got the dates you wanted with this site you did a good job. This is a decent site. There are a LOTS of worse sites than this in the park. If I got this one I'd be OK with it, especially if you are going in May or June.

Tom



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2010 03:36PM by mtn man.

Yes, I am going in June. If it is a double driveway i should be fine (I hope). We have a 30 foot trailer with two slides. I normally take it to the beach 7-8 times a year to camp with the kids on the weekend. I have not taken it to yosemite, since that is normally my time alone for backpacking. The pictures didn't show the whole site (It actually looked pretty tight), and i was worried with all the trees i would not be able to open the slides, thus i can't use the trailer. If it is a double wide site, i should be okay, since those are 18-19' in width, My trailer is 8' wide, and with the slides no more then 12' i would guess. Worse case, i can park my truck somewhere else. We don't drive when we are there, we will walk, bike, or take the busses. I had a list of 11 sites, I knew info about and that would of worked. Within a few seconds everything was gone, and i grabbed this one by pure luck when he reopened (It was reserved, and then went unreserved).

Looking at the picture again I find it to be wider than I had thought. I think you'll fit just fine.

Normally if the approach to the driveway of a site is too tight (as far as backing in goes) they usually put a "maximum trailer length" alert on the site descripion. There is not one on this site so it sounds like you should be able to back it in just fine. When in June are you going? I actually have the site next to you (47) on 6/10, (after we will have moved out of another site which we will have been in for 4 days prior to our last night which will be in 47).

Tom

Thanks Mtn Man. You made me feel a little better. I am going to hike half dome again this year and Mt Lyell the first weekend in June. I will check out the site that weekend, before i bring the family up the next weekend. We will be there June 11-17.

i may be going there in another week or two... i imagine though, that there is snow there this time of year, and that particular campground probably won't be open to drive in, but i'll walk there and take a photo for you.

as for now, here is the best photo i can come up with, it is site #50, but not a very good one.
http://yosemitecampsites.com/lowerpines/index.php/50



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/2010 11:46AM by forrestranger.

Here's another photo for you of Lower Pines site # 50 from another web site (http://www.rez-yosemite.com)
that gives you a different perspective.
That's a BIG RV parked in the site in this photo (!), so I'd think you'd be OK? :

Oops, sorry, my bad, that's same the photo from here!

On recreation.gov, if you click on the campsite in "Facility Map" format and view the campsite details, it does indicate that #50 has a double driveway. The max vehicle length is given as 40'. I've generally found the details on recreation.gov to be accurate and they are different from site to site, so it's not like they've just entered a one-size-fits-all description for all of the sites. Hope this helps some.

Cut-and-pasted from the campsite details on the website:

Site Details:
Site Type: RV NONELECTRIC
Site Reserve Type: Site-Specific
Checkin Time: 12:00 pm
Checkout Time: 12:00 pm
Type of Use: Overnight
Min Num of People: 1
Max Num of People: 6
Pets Allowed: Domestic
Max Num of Vehicles: 2
Driveway Grade: Slight
Driveway Surface: Paved
Driveway Entry: Back-In
Driveway Length: 33
Max Vehicle Length: 40
Shade: Partial
Double Driveway: Y
Campfire Allowed: Y
Fire Pit: Y
Food Locker: Y
Picnic Table: Y

Thanks for all of the info. I had seen that photo and the information from recreation.gov. My worry is a couple of things.
1. I know that it can be tight in there, it doesn't show the approach to the spot, it is 10 times easier to back a RV, then it is to crank and back in a large trailer, there just might not be enough room, depending what is in front of the site.
2. How wide really is the spot. Are there trees in the way, can i open the slide i have for the kids bedroom.
I was hoping maybe there was someone on here reading that works in yosemite or something else, that could snap a much better photo. If not, i will be doing some day hikes the first week in June before i go. I do want to say thanks though for people responding.

i plan on being there in the next couple of weeks, i'll measure it for you when i go.

As far as backing your rig in I don't think you will have any problem because there is no "maximum trailer length warning" on the description of site 50. Some site descriptions on the reservation website have this warning because rangers a few years ago checked out every campsite and took into account the backing up approach to each campsite. In the description of site 50 there is no warning about a maximum trailer length(Just max VEHICLE info) like there are on other sites.
Years ago rangers looked at all the sites and determined, based on size of the pad and the approach for backing in trailers, maximum trailer lengths. If you look at site 43 (l.p.) on the reservation system you 'll see as you scroll down past the description of the site that they warn of a max TRAILER length of 12', eventhough the driveway is thirty some feet long and is double wide.The reason they did this is because of the angle of approach when backing up a trailer. (Although they are very conservative in their estimates as I have put a 24' trailer in there.) So since they don't have a maximum trailer length warning on site 50 you should be OK to back a 30' trailer in.. Also if you look at the campground pictures for sites 57 and 58 you can see in the background site 50. Note the two tone motor home in the background, that's site 50. If you look real hard or if you can enlarge that pic. you will see that it is open (no trees) on the river side(north side)so there should be no problem putting out slide outs on that side. On the other side would be parked your truck. There are trees on that side of the driveway (meadow side).

But Forrest Ranger should be a big help when he checks out the site for you.

OK - I've actually been at some campsites where I was worried that someone backing in a trailer or RV was going to take out part of my site. I've actually witnessed someone clumsily backing into a driveway and taking out my site marker.

Half the fun of camping in theValley is watching people try to back in oversized vehicles into a campsite and I'm sure I have on an occasion entertained a few neighbors myself. But knocking down a campsite marker...never done that.

Quote
mtn man
Half the fun of camping in theValley is watching people try to back in oversized vehicles into a campsite and I'm sure I have on an occasion entertained a few neighbors myself. But knocking down a campsite marker...never done that.

Well - perhaps taking it out completely was an overstatement. It was a Forest Service campground operated by California Land Management. The marker had a reflective color strip and site number, as well as a binder clip for the camping slip. The plastic marker was fairly flexible and sprang back gracefully. However - a piece of the camping slip was torn off.

I have had two cars barely fitting diagonally on a small triangle-shaped parking pad. Fortunately neither car got hit.

It always amazes me how there are neatly lined rows of oversized vehicles in bus yards or truck stops. Those drivers are pros at getting those things into tight spaces.

I knew that i would not be let down by the great members on here. Member JNCS4X4 took care of me. They sent me several photos 360 degrees of the spot. It answered all of my questions and they also gave me additional info because they had stayed in that same spot. Thanks for Forest Ranger for the offer to take photos, I think i got everything i need. Since i am going to try and make this an additional yearly trip with the family, in addition to me backpacking. I am going to walk around on this trip and note all of the sites i like and take photos for next time. Thank you for everyones help and special thanks to JNCS4X4 for all the great photos.

Good, happy for you. Trying to get a site in Lower Pines that time of year is extremely tough,let alone for your size rig. So I take it this site is going to work out after seeing the pics. from 4x4?