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Yosemite National Park will open all 13 of its campgrounds this summer for the first time since 2019, the National Park Service said.
According to a message on the park’s Facebook page, Yosemite plans to open its White Wolf Campground on June 20. That campground has been closed since the end of 2022 while the park service addressed issues with the sewer and water lines. According to the announcement, White Wolf will not have drinking water when it reopens, and only portable toilets will be available. The park service had previously said it expected to keep the campground closed through 2025.
On June 23, the park plans to open its Tamarack Flat Campground; like White Wolf, drinking water will also not be available in that area, but visitors here will have access to vault toilets. Reservations will be available for both on June 15 at 7 a.m. Pacific on Recreation.gov. Another area, Yosemite Creek Campground, will open on July 1, with reservations becoming available at 7 a.m. on June 17. Like Tamarack Flat, Yosemite Creek will not have any drinking water, but will have vault toilets.
The park service plans to announce opening dates for the Bridalveil Creek, Porcupine Flat, and Tuolumne Meadows campgrounds soon. Overall, the NPS says that the openings should add about 500 additional campsites for visitors to utilize.
“We’re very excited to have these campgrounds open to the public as we enter the busy summer season,” said Acting Yosemite National Park Superintendent Ray McPadden in the post. “Camping in this park is truly a magical experience, and we want to provide the opportunity for as many visitors as possible.”
Yosemite is currently in the thick of its high season, which typically runs from May until September. July and August in particular are the park’s busiest months, averaging about 600,000 visitors each month, or 16 percent of its yearly total. This year, the park has faced challenges preparing for its high season. According to data collected by the Association of National Park Rangers, the park lost nine of its full-time rangers in government-wide mass terminations this February, as well as a handful of temporary positions and its only full-time locksmith.
Motivated in part by those losses, park officials announced in April they would close Yosemite Valley’s backpackers campground, a decision they quickly reversed after public outcry. In addition, political wrangling delayed the park’s implementation of a planned reservation system, some version of which it has had in place since the Covid-19 pandemic. The park finally announced the details of its planned system at the end of April.
From 2025