Campground near Half Dome

Hey guys! My cousins and I won the lottery for hiking Half Dome, we had some issue with getting the regular campground, so we are looking for places to camp as close as possible. It's our first time to Yosemite, our current plan is to first check the tioga pass campground, which is apparently first come first served and if there are no spots there, we would head for Reversed Creek.

Does anyone have any tips or ideas for where else we check try?

You can camp at Camp 4 - it's first come first served, and fills up quickly during the peak season (May to October). The general strategy is to get there in the very early AM and sleep in front of the registration kiosk until the ranger arrives (at 7 am, I think).

Or you could camp in the backcountry - Little Yosemite is just off the Muir trail, if I'm not mistaken.

Hey Edward,

I don't know if your cousin is a climber but you should really just consider climbing the choss pile.

Snake Dike is a stellar climb and very mellow if you have a good trad head. 5.7R

Also the rack for the climb is incredibly light.

Now if you would really rather hike the cables I would not recommend camping up in the Meadows. It's a good drive down. Try to get a spot in the Pines. Camp 4 is also good.

Have fun!

Get a backcountry permit and just stay in the backpackers camp for a night if you can't get into Camp 4.

Thanks for the advice guys, we will definitely look at Camp 4 and maybe the backcountry

Josh, I would love to climb, but one of my cousins has wrist problems, so he is unable to climb for much more than 1 or 2 pitches :/

We are still looking at the Upper and Lower Pine campgrounds, but they are all reserved. We hope for something to open up, but it doesn't seem likely

One more thing! DO THE MIST TRAIL! it's a variant off the Muir Trail on the way to the dome. It's gorgeous

Highlander wrote:Get a backcountry permit and just stay in the backpackers camp for a night if you can't get into Camp 4.

You don't really need wrists, or hands to climb snake dike. The first pitch is slab, and once you get on the dike, the hands just make you feel more secure buts its more of a steep hike (5.4-5.2)

Reversed Creek? No where even close to HD!

The backpackers camp can be kinda hard to find, so make sure you find out exactly where it is before you arrive (ask someone to post a map and write down how to get there). I think you also need to have a permit that shows that you are going to be going into the back country (someone correct me if I am wrong). As people said, camp four fills up quick, but if you get there really early, 6 or so, and just wait in like with a blanket or something, you will get a couple of spots.

I don't think the backpacker's camp is too hard to find. From the backpacker's parking lot or the lot at Curry, head to the road that leads to the Pines campgrounds, a couple hundred yards from either direction. Take that road over the bridge and hang a left into North Pines campground. Follow the road that parallels the Merced River, when it bends to the right at the end, go another 50 yards and you'll see signs where backpackers unload their cars. Take the footbridge over Tenaya Creek and you're there.

The footbridge is located across from the bathrooms near sites 401/501 on the map here:
nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/…
(That map should be rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise for proper orientation.)