Re: Valley Campsite 7 Night Limit

Trying to coordinate a week this June or July for about 16 family members in three campsites, a challenge I'm sure! Will have a crew ready at 7am Feb 15th. Wondering how recreation.gov enforces the 7day limit, by username, primary name, address, credit card? Any input appreciated!!

Tony

The campsite/campground limit is not enforced by the Recreation.Gov site (otherwise it would be a lot harder for scalpers to game the system), but is enforced (when enforced) at the campgrounds during your stay.

During your stay, the campground staff (sometimes the hosts, sometimes it's park rangers) go around each campsite to see that everyone has the proper campsite permit. They'll also take note of the vehicles (including their license plates) parked at each individual campsite. If they noticed that a vehicle has been at the campground longer than seven nights, they can evict the people at the campsite for overstaying at the campground. That's how it usually works.

Frankly, I don't know how strict they are about the enforcement. Personally, I don't try to abuse the system since there's only a very limited amount of campsites in Yosemite Valley and it would be unfair to others to try to stay longer than the seven nights limit they have in place for camping inside Yosemite Valley. One can legally camp in a campground for up to 14 nights in Yosemite, but outside of Yosemite Valley and Wawona (between May 1st and Sept. 15th).

.

Thanks plawrence, but I recall back in July 2011 I tried to book 2 north pines sites for 1week under my username and got rejected by recreation.gov for exceeding the 7day limit? Not really trying to game the system, it's just that my family (in-laws) can't handle the pressure of the 7am scramble to get 3 sites in reasonable proximity. Easier to get my tech savvy co-workers to help out but booking the reservations and checking in at the kiosk with the proper credentials worries me a little. I did book a single night and cancel to see if the site was returned to online inventory (cost me $10) and it was so changes are possible ( for me and the scalpers). Just trying to dot my i's and cross my t's before next Wednesday!

hg50, you are correct. Recreation.gov will limit your stay to 7 days total between May 1st and September 14th only. Someone else in your group must make the additional reservation and MUST show proper identification upon arrival. They have recently become more vigilant in this process in an attempt to curtail the rampant scalping. Good luck

Thanks troutwild! So two different recreation.gov user IDs, myself and say my wife, make separate reservations for 7 days with the same credit card and home address, show up with proper IDs should be OK?

hg50, I've sent you a PM.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/2014 09:05AM by troutwild.