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Camping near Tuolumne
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Are any of the first-come, first-served campground along Tioga Road open? Or how about camping on forestland beside Highway 120 east of Tioga Pass? Is that allowed (or at least tolerated) during the fires? Thanks for any beta. |
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Inyo National Forest is still closed to all recreation, including camping and dispersed camping. Closure is being reevaluated on Sept 30th. I would check back on the NF website on the 30th or the 1st to see if they reopen. |
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They extended the closure through 10/7 as of yesterday. |
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Is yosemite still giving out backcountry permits? Any decent places to crash at in lee vining that won't break the bank? |
everbradwrote: I own an rv and stay often at the Mono Vista RV park in town. They have some nice tent sites and the cost includes hot showers. They don’t take credit cards nor online reservations. You call and talk to a person. |
phylp phylpwrote: Whoa... You just got gave anyone under 30 on this site a reason to have a nervous breakdown Thanks for recommendation! |
everbradwrote: Lol, yes, and after I call in March to make my reservations for the summer, I have to send them a real paper check via snail mail to hold the reservation. But it’s actually a pretty location. I usually get a site with a view of the lake and the hills. The tent sites are in the last row in the back and view the hills. |
phylp phylpwrote: ... How? |
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We slept in our vans on turnouts for 3 nights this past weekend in the park...No issues but I'm not sure we weren't breaking a rule. Can anyone advise on that? Of course you still need a reservation/pass to be in the valley/Tuolumne. And the park's technically open 24/7. |
Peter Lwrote: Day use permits are only valid between 5am and 11pm, so you have to leave the park by 11pm and cannot car camp in the park. If you have a wilderness permit, you can camp in the park, but you need to follow all wilderness permit guidelines, which requires being 4 trail miles from any road. |
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following |
Peter Lwrote: It has always been against the rules to sleep overnight in your car on the side of the road in the park. Plenty of folks do it though, and some of them get caught and have to pay a fine. I heard a rumor that the fines during COVID can be astronomical, so it's a more risky proposition. Note that there is no overnight parking allowed at all on Tioga road after 15 October. |
Peter Lwrote: You're kidding, right? If it was legal to park and sleep in the Park - do you realize how effing crowded it would be? There would be even more #VanLyfers all over, shitting and trashing the place. Bad enough it happens as soon as you leave the park. But for reals - you think you can just sleep anywhere inside the park? Vans are not a free pass for douchebaggery like everyone thinks they are. |
Matt Nwrote: What's with the vitriol? I'm as jealous as you of van owners, but I don't harbor some elitist delusion that sleeping in my car just outside in the park is morally superior to sleeping in a van inside the park. Sleeping on 120/140 is barely different from sleeping in the park. It isn't exactly "douchebaggery" to mistake the fairly trivial difference between NFS and NPS land, and sleeping in a vehicle doesn't mean you necessarily trash your surroundings. |
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I was there this last weekend and saw folks bedding down for the night on the road near Tuolumne campground. It happens and you take a risk, or maybe they just didn't know. With covid and Inyo closure I'm thinking there's more concentrated use of the park and quite possibly by those new to the ways of the park. I didn't see any ranger trucks which was unusual. The smoke was uncool. |
k twrote: It sets a precedence. Others see it as okay and it spirals out of control. Tragedy of the Commons. |
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Thanks for the good info y'all's. And I did hear a second-hand story at the crag about someone driving into the park in the early morning before their day permit started, and getting slammed with that $5,000 fine for "Trespassing on Federal Land". Yikes. Probably best to follow the new rules. |
k twrote: I don't see any vitriol or jealousy. If you are clueless about the rules or how to reasonably work around them, you are a douchebag. It has nothing to do with "moral superiority". Sleeping in the van in the park is prohibited. There is more enforcement in the park so why do it? Arguably, one should not camp outside of established campgrounds on upper (or maybe all of) Tioga outside of the park, but there is no (or a very little) enforcement so it is a much better option that doing that in the park. Using your logic, I would stop paying California income taxes because there s only trivial difference between California and Nevada so if I don't like California rules, they don't apply to me. |
Pavel Kwrote: Is a car bivy off of Tioga road outside the park not legal? sincere question |
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What do you guys think will happen in the future when California's population goes bonkers and triples? If we're getting angry at each other now about sleeping in vehicles, then the future looks bleak. |
RJNakatawrote: Inyo labels Lee Vining Canyon as a Restricted Use Area. I believe a "car bivy" counts as dispersed camping. If I'm right about that, then no, it's not legal. https://www.fs.usda.gov/activity/inyo/recreation/camping-cabins/?recid=20228&actid=34 |
