Re: Camping allowed on or near N Dome or Yosemite Pt?

Looking to do the North Rim trail on Memorial Day weekend. Is camping allowed on or near N Dome or Yosemite Pt? I know conditions will vary from year to year but any idea what conditions might look like up there that time of year? Any issues with stream crossings? Looks like we'd be crossing ribbon, yosemite, and lehamite creek. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

TIA!!

Camp anywhere you want but try to be 100 feet from the trail or any waterway. Be sure to have a wilderness permit.

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Old Dude

I'd concur with Mike. The basic recommendation is to be 100 feet away from any trail or water source. They also recommend using a "previously impacted site" although that is not a rule that can be enforced. For obvious resource protection reasons, they would prefer that people not consistently create new wilderness campsites. Store your food properly and away from your site.

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

However - there is an out if you can't find another campsite. There are certain places where it can be crowded, and there are previously used sites that don't conform to the 100 foot recommendation.

http://www.nps.gov/yose/parkmgmt/upload/compendium.pdf

Quote

• Camping is prohibited in the following areas:

• Within 100 feet of a trail, flowing stream, river or any body of water, unless designated,
and as follows: Camping is permitted within 100 feet of a stream, trail or body of water
provided that a well established campsite exists and terrain permits no other options. In
no case will camping be permitted within 25 feet of a stream, trail or body of water.

DanTheMan,
Where are you planning to start and end your trip? That will have an impact what water you have to cross and whether or not there is a footbridge available.

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Old Dude

I highly recommend you buy the National Geographic Yosemite National Park Map.
This will take the question out of whether you can camp at a specific spot or not.
If there are additional requirements they will normally be listed on your permit or
the issuing ranger will let you know them. They recently started asking where you will
be camping so you'd find out then too.
To my understanding in direct reponse to your question:
NO - You cannot camp at Yosemite Point
YES - You can camp on North Dome
Now someone may come back and say "you can camp there I did" but my
recommendation is to just go by the NG Map.
Lehamite should never be too much an issue to cross.
Ribbon probably isn't too much danger crossing... never crossed it that early but
I don't recall it being mentioned as ever much of an issue.
Memorial Day is always busy...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2010 05:55PM by bill-e-g.

Sage advice.

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Old Dude

Quote
bill-e-g
NO - You cannot camp at Yosemite Point
YES - You can camp on North Dome
Now someone may come back and say "you can camp there I did" but my
recommendation is to just go by the NG Map.

I took a quick look at my NGTI map and you're right. Yosemite Point is in the area marked off-limits to camping. I'm looking at it, and it does appear to be within 4 miles of the Upper Yosemite Fall Trailhead, and camping isn't allowed within 4 trail miles of any Yosemite Valley trailhead. It should be possible to camp maybe a mile away.

Although camping is allowed on North Dome I think 100' off the trail is going to be a bit slopey. Perhaps just north of North Dome in the saddle area would be better.

Thanks for the quick responses! I'm thinking we're gonna be staying somewhere near N Dome. This would be our last night. Looking at the map, looks like it'd be a good distance from the valley to do in one day. We'll be coming out the snow creek th via mirror lake.

Any idea what to expect conditions wise? I'm expecting snow on some places and wet trails. Any mosquitoes?

Good expectations. I have encountered mosquitoes at that time of year but mainly in wet areas that are protected from the wind. The exposed areas were no prob. Snow shouldn't be too much of a problem but you will probably see some here and there. Swollen creeks will be plentiful, though.