UKC

Looking to do a 3 week trip next year to north America and we generally like camping in the national parks when go there, which we manage every few years.

It won't be for climbing mostly general holiday bimbling but we would like to do some hiking and I would like to do some landscape photgraphy but generally not the roadside done-to-death opportunities.

I see from the NPS site that it can be a bit of a lottery for any of the higher campgrounds to be open by then, or even at all if there is exceptional snowfall through the winter.

Is it worth going that time of year and still enough to do to get the most out of the visit if higher campgrounds/access roads are closed or are we better off heading for somewhere warmer, further south or lower elevations?

Other options might be splitting the time between Rocky Mountains National Park and Yellowstone as we did a 2-3 week Yellowstone/Tetons trip a few years back which was great but was in August/September but I think late May looks like it presents a similar weather lottery to RMNP and YNP. Generally prefer shoulder season to avoid the crowds.

Ta.

We’re just back from a couple weeks in Yosemite. As you say, the higher sites (Tuolomne) were closed this year - our booking was cancelled couple months ago so we booked somewhere just outside the eastern entrance instead (June Lakes, about 45 mins to Tuolomne meadows). Touch and go whether the Tioga pass was going to be open, but thankfully it was cleared couple weeks before we arrived. 

Yosemite valley will be almost certainly he open in terms of snow (although 2022 I believe everything was shut due to lack of staff). main question is whether you’ll be bringing your own tent or not. We couldn’t bring family camping gear so booked Curry camp (bookings open 12 months in advance so likely all gone by now for early season 2024). 
 

Can’t speak for Yellowstone or Rockies - if you really want Yosemite to work it will be possible but prob not in the camp sites that are set up for you as they’ll be booked up. Either stay outside the park, or take lightweight tent and hike from trail heads to where you can camp wild (I’d have loved that but not realistic with young kids). Failing that look into RV hire!

edit to say that Camp 4 is sort of an option but now needs booking a week in advance. Location is superb but you’d need a plan b in case it doesn’t work out. 

Thanks, that's really helpful. Yes, the plan was to bring our own backpacking tent as its just the two of us and pitch up at one of the regular campsites, with a week or so in different parts of the park and then a possible diversion to Sequioa/Kings Canyon for 2-3 days before heading back to San Fran for  2-3 days before the return flight. We bring as much camping stuff as we can and then buy other stuff at REI and then at the end of our stay, donate it back to them. Ideally we would try to buy stuff second hand but that would generally involve shuttling around too many places when time is tight.

The campsite bookings open on 7 Jan I think so we will be primed.

That would then also give us a bit of flex to try for a last minute backcountry permit or two if those other sites are open.

Did you go via San Fran or is there a better option for approaching from the east?

It's been a long time since I camped there, and generally later. But if the snow pack isn't too deep and Tioga is open, walking Yosemite with the rivers in full flow is awesome. I always liked to stay in Lee vining.  Used to be a one horse town but I guess that's changed in the last few decades. It's where they filmed high plains drifter.

Can't help with Yosemite beta but for getting to the bay area, fly into SJC rather than SFO. It's an all-round far less shitty experience.

Which airlines fly direct into SJC?

Regardless of the access to the Yosemite high country I would strongly recommend spending some time on the east side of the Sierras.

Sounds like you’ll be fine if booking for the BYO campsites isn’t open yet. Worth considering double booking yourself for sites in different locations (e.g. high and low altitude) in case of snow closures etc and just cancelling one or losing the deposit. I don’t know the process for back country permits but heard they are less in demand. 
 

we had a week in NYC beforehand so internal flight took us to Reno which is closest big airport to Tioga entrance in the east, but if flying in and out of San Fran then Tuolomne area is only an extra 1-2hrs and very much worth it for a quieter experience than the honeypot that is the valley. 
 

best maps are national geographic, 4 cover the park, 306, 307, 308 and 309. 206 covers the whole park but no good for hiking purposes. 

A local climber said to me “accommodation is the crux of any trip to Yosemite” and he is dead right. Last trip I stayed at El Portal, campsite was expensive and not particularly nice but didn’t need booking and had decent facilities. Camp Four is a grim hole, fine if you’re under 25 or on a hardcore climbing trip but otherwise avoid it. 
 

Tuolomne is fantastic and much more of a wilderness experience that the Valley. East Side of the Sierras is wonderful, much more of a high desert environment and like Tuolomne it has that American sense of vastness. Obviously if you can’t get there over the mountains because the road is closed by snow then it’s an awfully long way around.

The main problem with Yosemite camping these days is booking a pitch as all the walk in systems have stopped in peak periods. The valley is lovely in May June.

I'd say most years the Tulomne camping is closed until July. Plus it's totally closed for a revamp right now which may not finish until 2025.

 https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tmcamp.htm

White Wolf is a nice place between the Valley and Tioga Tuolumne but it's only open mid July to mid September.

https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/wwcamp.htm

There is loads of cheaper camping that you can more easily book in other National Parks and free camping in the even larger National Forest areas (often bordering NPs).

I'd be interested in LSRH answering that... seems hardly likely to be a cheap or date flexible option.

I find that smaller airports can be a little quicker if they have enough staff on when you land but that is rare to be able to fly direct and you wind up paying, have a longer journey and still have to clear immigration at a major airport.

To be fair to SFO I've never found it any worse than other airports.

The last Monday in May is Memorial Day, a national holiday. Busy places will be even busier that weekend. 

Late May/early June is prime time for waterfalls and Yosemite Valley will look great. The Tioga Pass had opened by early June around 75% of years over the last 20 allowing easier access to Tuolumne and the high country.

Yellowstone camping tends to open in May, later than Yosemite Valley but earlier than Tuolumne/high country Yosemite. I have no idea about RMNP.

I'd say Yosemite would be worth a punt, perhaps staying somewhere lower altitude, which could be in the valley itself if you get lucky with reservations. If you want to treat yourself for a day or two, Yosemite Bug is a similar price to a motel in El Portal but has a much nicer ambience. 

ah well, fair enough. If it 'seems' that way to you then it's certainly not worth the OP spending 30 seconds having a quick look on skyscanner to see if they can save an hour on the incompetence of the SFO experience and getting the stupid train thing out to rental car place, at least an hour (a lot more if it's rush hour) on the journey east, whatever the bridge tolls cost nowadays and the difference in car hire. Forget I said anything. 

Surely you can name at least one airline that flies or has flown direct to SJC if you know that their queues are shorter?

It seemed that way to me only as more climbers would be advising it. Just like I always said Nov/Dec trips to Red Rocks and Joshua Tree are always worth paying a bit more for Vegas than cheaper LA flights, to avoid exactly that sort of hassle.

It seems aimed at silicon valley business travel rather than the tourist market. I think it's just one of those things that you know about or you don't. We didn't for far too long but since discovering it have never looked back. When I've done it the price difference between the two has always been within the noise, but I'll admit I've not been in a position to be flexible with dates. The hassle and faff difference in my experience really is huge though. 

Does the internet not have search engines where you live?

We don't  have any aversion to answering simple questions in our neck of the woods

If we  profess to have some knowledge we would think it surly to wilfully withhold an easy answer.

Thanks all, lots of food for thought there.

I'd stump up some extra cash to not get detained by redbull slamming security next time

The crux for us (after finally getting through security) was working out how to start the hire car, we were both rather jet lagged and couldn't find the push start button for about 20 mins.

The drive over the bridge is pretty slow and naff too.

For the op another option is dispersed camping which I think you can do on national forest land and in some national park areas. Essentially it's their name for wild camping. Camping in the valley is tricky with ever changing rules, but we did manage to get walk on spots last year in camp four. If you have a bigwall (aka wilderness) permit,  you can stay one night prior and one night after climbing a big wall at the backpackers campground ($8 a night pp).