Re: upper river campgrounds

Does anyone know what happened to the plan to restore some campsites in the former Upper River Campground? It is being basically used as a dump and is an eyesore. Plus, the park is asking the public for feedback on the Visitor Access Management Plan and having more campsites would allow more people to stay in the valley which would help with the traffic issue.

So far that plan seems to have been a lie. I find myself disgusted.

Unfortunately, there have been what I feel is a lot of lies. I am going to mention the campgrounds and how they have not been restored and now are being used as a dump in my comments for the Visitor Access Managment plan. More campgrounds mean less traffic. Plus, they need to realize that visitor satisfaction is not just about access and traffic but the overall experience.

That was the one destroyed in the great flood of '97?

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hotrod4x5
That was the one destroyed in the great flood of '97?

It was certainly damaged in the flood. Could easily have been repaired.

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eeek

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hotrod4x5
That was the one destroyed in the great flood of '97?

It was certainly damaged in the flood. Could easily have been repaired.

Yeah, but at great expense. Every bear box, restroom, and dumpsters were destroyed if I recall correctly.

But they definitely need more sites.

My uncle was camp ranger at CG #15 in the summer of '61...back in the day when each CG had a resident ranger with Curry like tents to stay in. And my wife and I spent part of our honeymoon there in 1969. Just drove in on a Saturday (the day after the 4th of July) and got a spot. We have always liked #14 better (lower pines now). Still hate walking by Upper River and seeing the mess there...don't get it!

I don't either. I have mentioned it multiple times during public comments. I have been thinking of contacting NPS Director Sams about the mismanagement of Yosemite. There are so many things that were supposed to be done and weren't and things, like the traffic pattern whose pilot study was done during non-normal visitation years and now is being made permanent should never been done. I can say as someone who did research for 23 years, the traffic study would not have passed peer review much less put into use. I really hope that people here that are unhappy with how the park is being run, contact Director Sams too. I am also tired of Covid and the weather this winter being used as excuses. While they are valid excuses for some things going on in the park, other things were bad years before Covid and this winter.

I miss showing up and picking a site. Now if you don’t reserve within the first five minutes…three months in advance…you are out of luck. Yosemite used to be special. Now it reminds me of Disneyland. :<( cjh

I am finding that it now resembles a city park not a national park with all of it new traffic patterns in the valley, sidewalks along Tenaya Lake and removal of roadside parking. It is also no longer a place that is easy to visit if you are disabled. Walking is extremely painful for me so I can't enjoy areas that I used to be able to visit and due to being at high risk for Covid, I am not allowed to ride the shuttles that would get me to those places. Now along Tenaya Lake is a sidewalk with little parking along the road. There are barely any pull offs along the lake where I used to be able to park the car and get out and enjoy the lake. They only put one handicapped parking spot along the lake so now I would have to walk to the spots that I used to just take a short stop at to enjoy the view of the lake and I can't walk too far. It is the same for me at Tuolumne Meadows. And what is with the curbs everywhere? The curbing at Tuolumne Meadows area is causing a lot of people to have to walk in the road because you don't want to walk in the meadow but there is no more ability to walk along the side of the road.

I don't camp anymore but have friends that do. This summer some of our friends were camping at Upper Pines and it said that the campgrounds were sold out but throughout the five days they were there, some of the campsites were epty the whole time and I am not talking about just a few. We started counting empty sites and it was around 25% that were empty.

All of our parks are being loved to death and with people that have no idea of how to visit a National Park.

Similar issues in February. All Campsites reserved, but barely half occupied. OK if you reserved a site, but if you missed out it is s bummer. February used to be Heaven in Yosemite, but it is very busy now. :< cjh