Upper Pines Campground
The biggest Valley campground and the anchor of most Yosemite trips — walking distance to Curry Village and the Mist Trail shuttle.
Guide · California
How to get a Yosemite campsite when everything is booked
Yosemite Valley campsites are the hardest reservation in American camping: the Pines campgrounds famously sell out within minutes of each release. If you're staring at a wall of “Unavailable,” you're not late — that's just what the calendar looks like a few minutes after release day.
The good news: plans change constantly, and every changed plan is a cancelled site that goes right back on Recreation.gov. This guide covers how Yosemite's unusual release schedule works, when cancellations actually reappear, and how to be the camper who catches one.
Why Yosemite National Park sells out
Yosemite draws around four million visitors a year, and the Valley floor has only a few hundred reservable sites walking distance from the postcard views. Demand outstrips supply by orders of magnitude on summer weekends, release mornings turn into lotteries measured in seconds, and everything downstream of that — resale-proof rules, monthly release drama, cancellation-sniping — follows from that mismatch.
How booking works on Recreation.gov
Yosemite's reservation campgrounds don't use Recreation.gov's standard six-month rolling window. Reservations are released five months ahead, in month-long blocks, on the 15th of each month at 7 am Pacific — for example, arrivals from mid-January through mid-February all open on September 15. This applies to Upper, Lower, and North Pines, and to Wawona and Hodgdon Meadow in their reservation seasons.
New for 2026: North Pines reservations go through an early-access lottery first, with any leftovers released on the regular date. Check the park's current rules on nps.gov before your release day, and confirm each campground's exact window on its Recreation.gov “Seasons & Fees” tab.
Every cancellation costs a $10 service fee. Cancel the day before or the day of arrival and the first night is forfeited on top; no-shows pay a $20 fee plus the first night.
That penalty structure creates a predictable rhythm: campers with wobbly plans bail early to stay ahead of the first-night forfeit, so cancellations trickle in continuously from a few weeks out and tighten right up against the day-before cutoff.
Recreation.gov has its own free availability alerts, capped at 3 active alerts per account — and the same notice goes to every camper watching the site, so it's still a race.
Reservation-system facts checked against official sources on July 21, 2026. Policies change — the reservation system's own pages are always authoritative.
The campgrounds to know
Lower Pines Campground
Smaller Valley neighbor with river-adjacent sites and the same instant-sellout release.
North Pines Campground
The most coveted of the three — tucked between the Merced River and Tenaya Creek. Lottery-first for 2026.
Wawona Campground
Along the South Fork Merced near the Mariposa Grove, about an hour from the Valley — often the last to fill.
Hodgdon Meadow Campground
Just inside the Big Oak Flat entrance off Highway 120 — a strong basecamp if the Valley is gone.
Tuolumne Meadows Campground
The high-country giant at 8,600 feet on the Tioga Road, in season — check its current status before planning around it.
See everything we track in this park — live alert status included — on the Yosemite National Park coverage page.
When cancellations actually happen
Yosemite cancellations follow the two clocks every Recreation.gov park runs on. First, the slow clock: from the moment a month sells out, plans start falling apart — work schedules, weather forecasts, kids' soccer playoffs — and sites dribble back one at a time, at random hours, for months. Second, the fast clock: the $10-fee-plus-first-night forfeit kicks in the day before arrival, so the final 48 hours before any summer date reliably shakes loose a last wave from campers who waited until the deadline to admit they weren't coming.
One-night gaps midweek come back most often; full summer weekends come back rarely and vanish in minutes. The winning strategy is watching continuously — which is exactly the job you should hand to a robot.
The playbook
- Mark the release date for your arrival month: the 15th of the month, five months ahead, 7 am Pacific. Log in early, have your dates and a second-choice campground ready, and try the moment the clock turns.
- If release morning fails, set a free OpenCampsite alert for your dates right away — the earlier the alert starts watching, the more cancellations it sees. Cover Upper, Lower, and North Pines in one alert, and consider a second alert for Wawona or Hodgdon Meadow as a fallback basecamp.
- Be flexible where you can: midweek arrival dates, a one-night-shorter trip, or a split stay (two campgrounds, two reservations) all multiply your odds several times over.
- When an alert lands, act in minutes — Valley sites that reappear are usually re-booked fast. Have your Recreation.gov account logged in on your phone.
- Keep the day-before window on your radar: if you're already near the park with flexible plans, the 24–48 hours before your target date is the single most reliable cancellation window all summer.
Common questions
How far in advance do Yosemite campsites open for reservation?
Five months ahead, in month-long blocks released on the 15th of each month at 7 am Pacific — different from Recreation.gov's usual six-month rolling window. Upper, Lower, and North Pines use this schedule year-round; Wawona and Hodgdon Meadow use it in their reservation seasons. For 2026, North Pines adds an early-access lottery before the general release.
Do Yosemite campsites really come back after selling out?
Constantly. Every sold-out month sheds reservations as plans change, and Recreation.gov's penalty rules (a $10 cancellation fee, plus a forfeited first night when cancelling the day before or day of arrival) push most cancellations to happen days or weeks ahead — exactly the window an availability alert watches for you, around the clock.
What's the best alternative if the Valley campgrounds are full?
Inside the park: Wawona, Hodgdon Meadow, and (in season) the Tioga Road campgrounds like Tuolumne Meadows put you 45–90 minutes from the Valley. Watching one Valley campground and one fallback at the same time — OpenCampsite gives you three free alerts during beta — is the highest-odds setup.
Is OpenCampsite's Yosemite alert free?
Yes — every alert is free while we're in beta, no credit card required. We check Yosemite's campgrounds around the clock and email you the moment a site matching your dates opens up; you book it yourself on Recreation.gov.
Put Yosemite National Park on watch
Pick your campground and dates, and we'll email you the moment a cancellation or new opening matches. Free while we're in beta — no credit card.