Tuolumne Camping

How hard is it to find camping in Tuolumne this time of year?  Is it impossible on the weekends?  Has anyone camped at on the BLM land near Lee Vining and is a total pain to access climbs when camped out there?  Next year I'll plan ahead.  Thanks for the advice!

i've had good luck rocking up to the forest service campgrounds along hwy120 between lee vining and the park entrance on the weekend and finding open spots.  if coming up from so-cal, the mammoth senic loop is a great place to dispersed camp on the way up to the meadows, with not-too-crazy of a drive for the next morning to go climbing. 

Don't stress Marisa there is tons of camping on the East Side within 10-30 minutes from the park entrance. Only bummer is the gas burn up the pass daily. But, there's no bugs.

Bring you own water, trowel and TP and look for guides to some of the bouldering between Mammoth and Lee Vining. Hundreds of unimproved sites around.

Probably just about impossible to camp in the park without a reservation or very early arrival. But you can camp on National Forest land along the 120 east of Tioga. It will be dispersed camping- meaning no services- but you should not have much difficulty finding a spot along Saddleback Lake road or something similar.

Although maybe it will be more crowded this year because of the late opening for the campground in the park? Not sure, haven't been up there yet this year. Anyway, it's only a 20 minute drive from there to the visitor center area in Tuolumne Meadows. Totally worth it. Enjoy!

Here's a map of campsites on the eastside of the park entrance

Hey Marisa,

A friend and I are going to be up there this weekend and also looking for camp spots in the area. If you come across anything or want to share a site potentially, let me know?

Cheers!