Yosemite Pines RV Park and High Sierra RV Park

Just returned from my yosemite trip. Had a blast. Truck did a fantastic job. I think I was stressing myself out about drive up. The tundra did great. On way up priest grade I put it in S3 and took my time. It's a pretty steady grade but truck pulled nice and felt solid. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy the valley view below, kept my eyes on road.
Stayed at yosemite pines in groveland and enjoyed the grounds. Full hookups are the way to go. Did rainbow pools one afternoon which is awesome for rock diving and took the bus into the valley one day. Highly recommend.
Coming back down hill I put truck in 2 gear and stayed about 25 miles an hour. Used a couple turnouts to let people by but barely used my brakes. Trip took 3 hours from Sacramento to campground. And then yosemite valley hub is another hour or so.
All in all fun trip and I love my tundra

We had reservations for 7/18-7/20 at High Sierra It was too late to change by the time I ran across this review, so we just went with it. Here is my opinion, We had no issues with ants, the bathrooms where clean, and the people who ran it where very friendly and helpful. Now for the problem, I will say that I don't typically post bad reviews as people are trying to make a living, but in this case I feel compelled. Using the phrase "the sites where close together" is a massive understatement. In most of the spaces the hookups are designed so the rigs are forced to set up door to door (facing each other). In the site we had when another rig was next to us there wasn't enough room to put out two awnings. I mean when the neighbors stepped out of thier RV they where literally under our awning. It was the worst campsite I had every camped in. Ours was not the only site like this, I saw others as well. Most of the people we saw during our stay where only overnighters, in late and out early. But it was a very uncomfortable 3 nights.

kfcflores

The tow up to Groveland from Lake Don Pedro is the only challenge. The road has several miles of easy switch backs that traverse an change in elevation. Its a slow drive with no issue.

The sites are gravel/dirt with many cut into a hill. I have stopped overnight and have mixed sites. Request shade and make sure you have enough space. It works given the limited campgrounds near Yosemite.

Not the info I was hoping to hear. We will be staying at yosemite pines this weekend. A friend at work recomended it, but I found out later he was referring to another cg called yosemite lakes. Oh well. On another note....how is the drive coming into the campground. I just upgraded my tow vehicle to a tundra 5.7 from a chevy tahoe. Last weekend was first towing with new TV and whoa. What a difference. That being said, still a little nervous about drive in. I have heard it can be pretty hairy. I will be coming from the West via 120. Coming from Sacramento Area.. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Did you post your review on www.rvparkreviews.com?

J-mans Dad wrote:
Yosemite Pines can be tight depending on where your site is. The upper area toward the back seemed to have bigger sites. Granted the roads were rustic (dusty), the pool was clean, the playground for the kids were well done, petting zoo area for the kids and the on-site gold mine were a novelty. If you have kids, this would be the place to stay at.

Gotta realize these aren't 5 star destination resorts.We stayed at those places to spend most of our time in Yosemite, not in camp.

X2

Would NOT recommend High Sierra RV Park to anyone. We don't like to post negative posts but really feel inclined to do so on this one. It is not at anything like it is portrayed on the website. It is not kept up, the ants are HORRIBLE, it is dusty and I would not let my dog swim in the Merced River let alone my family. We did have lovely neighbors that we met, which was the one positive of our stay here. They shared our same disappointment of this park. On the flip side, we also stayed at the Redwoods RV Park, which is a park within the same company, and it is VERY nice and would recommend this park to anyone.

We've stayed at both.
Yosemite Pines can be tight depending on where your site is. The upper area toward the back seemed to have bigger sites. Granted the roads were rustic (dusty), the pool was clean, the playground for the kids were well done, petting zoo area for the kids and the on-site gold mine were a novelty. If you have kids, this would be the place to stay at.

High Sierra is tight but quiet. We found the sound of the creek at night drowned out just about everything even though the park is right off the main road through town. I don't think we'd stay at anywhere else closer to the park.

Gotta realize these aren't 5 star destination resorts.We stayed at those places to spend most of our time in Yosemite, not in camp.

We spent a week the end of May at Yosemite Pines and had no issue with it other than the dust - plenty of room for our 40 footer and four slides.

I always have a look with Google earth before actually going to a particular location.

RVParkreviews will also reveal the devil in the details about most locations.

So sorry you found out after arriving.