Expert: Steve Summers - 7/19/2006

Question
Steve,

Thank you for taking the time to answer so many questions . . . now here is mine.  We are planning a camping trip to Yosemite next summer (we know to get a reservation a year in advance etc).  We are traveling with another family and we want to camp in the best spot for kids (we will have 5 kids with us all under the age of 5).  Something with water, simple trails etc.  Can you recommend where we should make our reservation?  Thanks in advance!  

Answer
Hi Julia,

You can make reservations for Housekeeping camp a year in advance, but the campgrounds (Upper Pines, Lower Pines, North Pines) in the Valley are only reserved 4 months in advance. Check out http://www.nps.gov/yose/trip/camping.htm for the full schedule. IMHO, any of the campgrounds in the valley are great. My favorite is the back row of upper pines, but you can guess how hard it is to get into there! There's a little creek running behind the last row of campsites, and you are close to the Happy Isles Nature Center and shuttle stop, so you can get anywhere in the valley easily. If you can get any reservations in the valley, that would be great for your kids because you can easily get to a number of easy trails in the valley via the shuttle system. However, if you are feeling lucky and think you can get through at 7AM on the designated reservation day, then try for sites 210 and 211 in Upper Pines. Those are our favorites.

Good luck!

Steve