North Pines Campground

Not only did my wife and I fully enjoy our 2-night stay, but our German Shepherd had the time of her life as well. I haven’t seen her so happy, prancing everywhere we went on her walks. We also had time to ride our bikes around our campground with our dog and the rest of the park on our own.

My only issue is when we left the campground. My fault, but I thought I left enough room between a large tree on the left and one on the right. I hugged the left side, but not enough. I guess the root of the right side tree went up on an angle that I didn’t see and was just high enough to hit the step and damage it damage it beyond repair. What a horrific sound.

Regardless, we had a wonderful time.

We felt so lucky to be able to secure a reservation for anywhere in the Yosemite Valley for the week before Labor Day weekend (imagine huddling in front of my computer at 6:59am, waiting for the campsites to be released 6 months before the reservation date). However, when we first arrived at our campsite, I was profoundly disappointed: it was on the edge of a dirt meadow with about a dozen different campsites surrounding its perimeter with no privacy whatsoever. Once I got the trailer backed in to the spot, I looked up and there was Half Dome, so close I felt I could reach out and touch it. Drop. Dead. Gorgeous. Off to the left was the majestic Washington Column. The view took my breath away. In fact, every time I looked up during our 4-day stay, I was frozen by its stunning beauty. Most of the other campsites were in the thick woods and had no view, true, they had more privacy but I would have camped in the middle of a freeway to get that view.

The location is great for short or longer highs, you should rather stay for two nights

I really loved my stay at North Pines. From the campground hosts, to the rangers, I felt very taken care of from the moment I checked in.

I had been trying to get this site for a couple of years… 526…. Arguably the best campsite in the entire park. It was as great as I always imagined it would be!

This campsite was actually not very nice at all. The reason? They crammed so many people close together you felt like you were in a fishbowl. We were shocked at how bad it was and how close everyone was. Now this bad review is for site 320. We stayed at site 312 and it was much better and closer to the bathrooms. Overall, Yosemite really fell down in our opinion because of how cramped everyone was. I guess they think everyone will put up with any circumstances just to be able to camp there….

Clean and easy access. Bathrooms are adequate and grounds are kept orderly. Campsite host was very personable and communicative.

The campground and the site were great. The only drawback was the neighbors two families in the sites behind us. the parents and their 6 child didn’t mind cutting through our campsite. The parents would allow the kids to get loud occasionally and ride their bikes into and around our campsite.
The kids I can understand, especially if the parents hadn’t taught them simply camping rules. Other than that it was very peaceful once they left.

I stayed at the back west edge of the campground and found it peaceful and quiet. The campground was fully booked but things were calm, clean, and well cared for. I do think the bathrooms could have been a bit cleaner, and that's the reason for my less than "5" review. I had lovely views of the valley walls all around, including an excellent view of half dome.

Great views, clean bathrooms