Upper Pines Campground in Yosemite National Park: How to Get a Reservation and What to Expect

Photo: Andrew Ginns, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; cropped, with lettering added by Brian Russ Guides.

Upper Pines is the biggest campground in Yosemite Valley and the only one in the Valley that takes RVs all year. It sits near the Merced River at the Valley's east end, at 4,000 feet, with 236 sites, flush toilets, drinking water, a bear locker at every site, and the Valley's year-round dump station. You need a reservation every night of the year, and in summer those reservations go in minutes (NPS).

It suits families, first-time Yosemite campers, and anyone in a small RV or trailer who wants to wake up under the Valley walls instead of driving in from an hour away. It doesn't suit people looking for quiet or space: sites are close together, and it's a busy place. If you're planning the rest of the trip too, my Yosemite National Park guide lays out one-, two-, and three-day plans that work from a Valley base.

The Basics

• Sites: 236 total, including 29 RV-only and 4 tent-only. Ten sites are set aside for wheelchair users.
• RVs and trailers: RVs up to 35 feet and trailers up to 24 feet, but not every site fits those lengths. Filter by your length on recreation.gov before you book.
• Hookups: none. No site in Yosemite has hookups. The dump station is near the campground entrance and is open all year.
• Water and restrooms: tap water and flush toilets. No showers in the campground; the nearest are the paid showers at Curry Village.
• At each site: fire ring, picnic table, and a food locker about 43 inches wide, 35 deep, and 28 high.
• Limits: six people and two motor vehicles per site, with vehicles on the parking pad.
• Services: groceries at Curry Village and Yosemite Village. No camp store, firewood sales, or ice at the campground itself. NPS lists cell reception as yes, year-round.

All of that comes from the park's Pines Campgrounds page and campground table, checked November 2026.

Photo: Mx. Granger, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How to Get a Site

Reservations open on recreation.gov in one-month blocks, five months ahead, on the 15th of each month at 7 a.m. Pacific. So sites for April go on sale November 15, sites for May go on sale December 15, and so on. The fee is $36 a night as of November 2026 (NPS).

The part people underestimate: the park says nearly every reservation for May through September, plus some other weekends, is gone on the first day, usually within seconds or minutes. My advice for a summer trip is simple. Be logged in to recreation.gov before 7 a.m. with your dates and a few acceptable sites picked, and have a backup campground in mind before the clock hits. If you miss, keep checking for cancellations; the park itself says that's the only route left mid-April through October (NPS).

There's no first-come, first-served option at Upper Pines, ever. And don't plan to sleep in your car in a pullout: Yosemite only allows sleeping in a vehicle in a campsite you're registered for. Reservation rules change, so check before you book.

Where It Is and When It's Open

Upper Pines is on Southside Drive at the east end of Yosemite Valley. From the Arch Rock Entrance on Highway 140 it's 8 miles to the Valley; from the South Entrance on Highway 41 it's about an hour; from the Big Oak Flat Entrance on Highway 120 it's about 45 minutes (NPS). The free Valley shuttle runs past it, and Curry Village is within walking distance.

It's open all year, but in winter only the first two loops normally stay open, about 90 sites. As of November 2026, Upper Pines and Camp 4 are the only open Valley campgrounds; Lower Pines and North Pines are closed for the season, and Tioga Road and Glacier Point Road are closed for snow (NPS current conditions). Most of the park's precipitation falls November through March, and the Valley can get rain or snow in any storm, so pack for both.

Photo: Rennett Stowe, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

What Camping There Is Like

The setting is the reason to go: pines overhead, the Merced nearby, and Half Dome and the Valley walls all around. The flip side is that it's a big, full campground in the busiest part of the park. Expect neighbors close by, cars coming and going, and campfire smoke in the evenings. The park notes that smoke settles near the ground at night and early morning, which can be unhealthy for sensitive people (NPS).

The real advantage is what you don't have to do. You can leave the car parked and walk or ride the shuttle to trailheads, Curry Village, and Yosemite Village. Happy Isles, where the Mist Trail starts, is also at the Valley's east end. If you're in an RV, the dump station is right at the entrance instead of across the park.

Photo: National Park Service, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Rules That Matter Here

• Food storage: you must store food properly 24 hours a day, which in practice means everything with a scent goes in your site's locker, not your car. Bears stay active in every part of the park through the fall (NPS).
• Fires: wood and charcoal fires are allowed all year. From May through September, Valley wood fires are only allowed 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.; October through April, any time. Don't gather firewood outside the campground in the Valley.
• Quiet and generators: quiet hours are 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Generators only 7 to 9 a.m., noon to 2 p.m., and 5 to 7 p.m.
• Pets: allowed on a leash, and not left tied up alone.
• Check-in: noon. If you don't check in by 10 a.m. the morning after your first night, the reservation is cancelled.
• Night limits: from May 1 to September 15, no more than seven nights in Yosemite Valley or Wawona.

Photo: Mx. Granger, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

If bears are part of why you're coming, I wrote about where to see black bears in Yosemite this fall, from a safe distance.

Who Should Look Elsewhere, and Where

Tent campers who don't need a car at the site should look at Camp 4, near Yosemite Falls. It's walk-in and tents only, at $10 per person. In 2026 it takes reservations one week ahead through November 29; after that it switches to first-come, first-served until mid-April (NPS). It has long been a climbers' favorite, and the sites are shared.

If you missed the Upper Pines booking window and it's late fall through early spring, Hodgdon Meadow and Wawona are first-come, first-served in that season. You give up waking up in the Valley, but you gain a real shot at a site. In summer, the only honest answer is cancellations, a campground outside the park, or a room in a gateway town.

Photo: Rennett Stowe, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Fitting Upper Pines Into a Trip

Two or three nights here covers the Valley well. Use one day for Valley floor walks and the meadows, one for a bigger hike from Happy Isles, and, in summer, a drive up to Glacier Point or Tioga Road. In winter those two roads close, so plan around the Valley instead; my post on visiting Yosemite in winter covers what changes. For full day-by-day plans by effort level, see the Yosemite National Park guide.

Photo: James St. John, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Before you go: see Yosemite National Park alerts and current conditions, checked daily, for current closures and what they mean for your trip.

This is an independent guide. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Park Service. Campground seasons, fees, reservation rules, and closures change; check the park's current alerts and recreation.gov before you go.