Campgrounds

• Fortunately all of those campsites are spread out over 12 campgrounds scattered throughout the park. Three are located in Yosemite Valley, two are near the south entrance to the park and the rest are accessible from Tioga Road, which crosses the park from east to west. Seven of these campgrounds offer reservations for all or part of the sites during the busy late-spring through early-fall season. At the park's lower elevations, three campgrounds are open all year; otherwise, opening dates are determined by when the snowpack melts and closing dates by the arrival of winter.
  
  

Yosemite Camping Reservations

• Reservations are available through the National Park Service's reservations system. Due to its extreme popularity Yosemite's campsites may only be reserved as early as five months ahead of time. At 7 a.m. Pacific time on the 15th of each month dates are released in blocks of a month for five months in the future. For example, on Feb. 15, reservations become available for June 15 to July 14. Summer reservations are often all taken within minutes of availability.
  
  

First Come, First Served Camping

• For those last-minute summer camping trips it may still be possible to snag a campsite but it takes some early-morning effort. First-come, first-served campgrounds are often filled by noon, if not before, especially on weekends. During the summer there are no car camping sites in this category anywhere in Yosemite Valley. They are also very limited throughout the park during May and June because most are at the higher altitudes, which don't become accessible until late June or July.
  
  

Amenities

• All campsites include a picnic table, a fire pit or grill, and a food storage locker. Many, but not all, campgrounds supply potable water and flush toilets; the alternatives are creek water, which must be boiled or treated, and vault toilets. Small stores for essential groceries and firewood are located at Yosemite Village, Curry Village, Wawona, Crane Flat and Tuolomne Meadows. It is illegal to collect any wood, even downed wood, inside the park.
  
  

Bears in Yosemite

• Yosemite's brown bears are foragers by nature and omnivores by biology. They will eat whatever they come across, including human food. They have learned how to get into all kinds of storage containers, even cars, in their quest for cookies and cereal. As a result, every campsite in the park includes a food storage locker, or bear locker, and all campers are required by federal law to keep all food, food containers, toiletries, drinks and even food trash locked in them.