Lower Pines Campground

The Recreation.gov app is very friendly to use.

Obviously, it is almost impossible to get Yosemite campground reservations most of the time. We felt very lucky to score on a cancelled reservation, often when only one or two sites opened up. The rest of the campground was supposedly booked. Yet the same night that the campground was supposed to be full, I saw many sites left vacant. I wonder how many other nights I could have camped in the park instead of an hour+ drive outside the park.

Due to the tremendous popularity of camping within the park, I believe there should be a significant disincentive to encourage those with reservations to cancel within a reasonable time (so others can plan to use the site). Those that don't cancel, and don't show, should also be charged a significant fee to discourage that practice.

I was happy to be in site #69 due to its beautiful backdrop. The site also had a shower hook, where I was able to put up my solar shower and rinse off after a long day of hiking. My neighbors were great and the bear box of easily accessible. My biggest suggestion is to go visit Yosemite "off-season".

Love the view of the cliffs.

Beautiful place always!

Beautiful view of half dome

We did not have a reservation and the ladies at the reservation office in Curry Village were very helpful. The NPS phone system stinks. The recordings are of such poor quality that they are unintelligible. Every NPS employee I talked to was very courteous and helpful. A maintenance working on the road to the Awanee went above and beyond to help us find a place to park a small motorhome. The road maintenance was a pain but I know it is necessary. I am a retired park ranger.

The site I paid for (site 003) said that it had room for 2 vehicles max at 18ft. The site barely had room for a single SUV, but right next to us was a large parking spot big enough for 2 trucks that had a sign saying “maintenance vehicles only”. Further, this site is in a high-traffic area right at the entrance to the camping. If some sites are going to be closed off for COVID, why not close off the poor campsites like site 003, and open the nicer, larger sites? There is no way to communicate these things, since the camp host and people working the gate are siloed off from whoever is making the rules. Demand for these spots is so much higher than supply that the company running the campground just does whatever they want and their customers end up with a poor experience.

Concerned we were delayed arriving for a day and called to say so. Got immediate call back and they were extremely helpful and reassuring. Our stay on site couldn’t have been better.

Very nice campground in Yosemite Valley. Spacious sites and bathrooms were close. Quiet time after 10pm was observed. I would stay again.