booking yosemite in the summer

[offroad_x]

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.

[bukhrn]

Padlin wrote:
Tried to get in RMNP this morning, reserve america said try again at 10am. I logged in and setup at 9:45, at that time I hit "Book It" and it was already gone. at 9:45!!! Maybe you can get them earlier if you call instead of online.

I had no problem getting the site I wanted at RMNP, went in the day the reservations opened (3/3/15)for the time I was looking for, started 10 min. early, & kept clicking the Book It button, same thing I did this morning, but today it didn't work, oh well, I still consider myself lucky, out of the 20 reservations I made for this summers trip, only had trouble with 2 of them, hope the first come first serve go as well. 😉

[Padlin]

Tried to get in RMNP this morning, reserve america said try again at 10am. I logged in and setup at 9:45, at that time I hit "Book It" and it was already gone. at 9:45!!! Maybe you can get them earlier if you call instead of online.

[bukhrn]

smkettner wrote:
Couple years ago I stayed four nights in four different sites.
We got real good at moving and it was still a good trip.

Even the best prepared can fail to get a site. Best to be late in the reservation window and go Sunday to Thursday at the most for best shot. Best of luck next month.

Remember there are no bad sites in Yosemite. If you fit it is good.

That's exactly what I did, NO luck. 😞

[time2roll]

Couple years ago I stayed four nights in four different sites.
We got real good at moving and it was still a good trip.

Even the best prepared can fail to get a site. Best to be late in the reservation window and go Sunday to Thursday at the most for best shot. Best of luck next month.

Remember there are no bad sites in Yosemite. If you fit it is good.

[agesilaus]

"btw: I could only find 5 sites that my trailer would fit in. I know some have said a longer trailer can fit in the 24ft sites, but being a newbie, I didn't want to try it. "
------------------------------------
The interior sites are on a very narrow and twisty set of roads. I suspect that some of the sites that are shown to be too short are marked that way because it can be very difficult to back into many of them because there is no room on the road. When we had to move (we started out in the first site to the left when you drive past the ranger station.) it took us 15 minutes and several volunteer traffic directors to fit into the new site. And it was on the outside perimeter not inside. The driveway was angled so that it was very tricky to get in with a 34ft 5ver.

These older park CG were designed for campers of the 1950's not for modern vehicles. Touloumne CG is even worse.

[bukhrn]

I started clicking at 7:50, still didn't get one, I clicked once at about 7:59, the next click they were ALL gone. I guess I just have a slow computer.
I immediatey looked at north pines, they were all gone too, so I quickly switched to Wawona, and they were gone as well, except for a few that I wouldn't fit into.
I finally wound up at Bass Lake, Forks CG, a bit of a drive to the valley, but I'll only ever be there once, so, oh well. 😞

[agesilaus]

offroad_x wrote:
Agesilaus,

I didn't think about clicking before 7am. That is where I went wrong! Thanks for the tip!

I worked on the principal that we don't know exactly what time they will start accepting reservations.

BK

[offroad_x]

FinallyTime,

That is a great technique. I didn't think of that. When my first booking failed, I got confused as to how to search for another site. I lost precious seconds on that one. With your method, it would avoid it. Thanks!

btw: I could only find 5 sites that my trailer would fit in. I know some have said a longer trailer can fit in the 24ft sites, but being a newbie, I didn't want to try it.

This was a spur of the moment decision, and I only had a little bit of time to research. I might try again for the August 15th opening.

[offroad_x]

Agesilaus,

I didn't think about clicking before 7am. That is where I went wrong! Thanks for the tip!

[offroad_x]

4x4Dodger,

Thanks for relating. I didn't know it was that bad even in April!

I agree that even staying outside the park, it is worth it. Last year we stayed at Dimond-O, and that was great. We hiked Hetch-Hetchy, and enjoyed just being in the campground.

[Finally_Time]

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.

[agesilaus]

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.

[4X4Dodger]

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.