booking yosemite in the summer

I have always had luck by loging in on 7 or 8 separate windows before 7am. I select a different site in each window and I put all my dates and credit card info in each window. I also do alternate dates in some of the windows. About a minute before 7 I start tapping "Book It" in my first choice. If I don't get that one I move onto the next window. So far I have always gotten a site, but I am usually booking for May or September. Also check back about 7:30 and again at 8, sometimes people have grabbed a site but don't complete the booking.

I succeeded in getting a week at my first selection. I started clicking the reserve button 2 minutes before 0700 PDT and kept clicking until 0700. There aren't that many sites in North Pine so it's just a matter of who clicks at the right instant. Longer sites are especially in demand. I actually had two windows open to two different sites but didn't need to use the second one.

The NPS sometimes doesn't release sites near the river since they can flood, they release them later in May or June if it looks like there won't be flooding. The rainfall/snowfall amounts are so grim this year I don't know if they did that. We actually got another 3 or 4 days when those sites opened giving us 10 or 11 days total. We had to change sites tho. Someone made an announcement here when they opened and I spotted it soon enough to grab one.

offroad_x wrote:
This morning at 7am the booking window for July opened up. I did my research the night before, had all my information, and at 7am clicked book. I didn't get it. By the time I searched for the next site, only single days were left. By 7:11, there were no days left in the valley.

So, is there a trick to getting a site in yosemite in the summer? Like try to go for just a few days, start on a tue, or things like that?

I knew the odds of getting a site were slim. We will likely go in the off-season. But my youngest is still in school, so it's difficult to do that. I searched on this topic, but didn't find any tips, except to research the sites your trailer fits in (mine is 29ft from back to hitch ball). I know we can stay outside the park (which we have done), but we really wanted to try the valley experience.

I sympathize and had this same problem. Yosemite is just so popular. I tried and failed just like you, and this was for April 3rd! I booked a site outside the park at an RV place on a river. NOT by any means as nice as being in the park. But even with the daily drive Yosemite is worth it.

The problem with the off season is that the Tioga road and Glacier Point road are closed until MAY at the earliest. This shuts off a lot of the best places.