“The grandest of all special temples of Nature” John Muir

6:50.  In the morning.  Sunday.  Was that really my alarm beeping and buzzing itself into a Wake Up It’s Time frenzy?!

I crawled out of bed and sleepily turned on the laptop.  I navigated my way to the Yosemite campground reservation website just before 7:00 a.m.  Available sites could be found on any number of campgrounds in May.  Suddenly, my laptop low battery light started blinking, threatening hibernation, and I frantically went to plug it in.

7:01 a.m.  Just like that, all the camp sites in the valley were gone.  The site was taking ages to refresh and every time I was able to snag what looked like an open site, I’d get a message telling me otherwise.  “Next Available Date” taunted me endlessly.

After about 30 minutes, backup arrived.  Armed with another computer, we set out to book two campsites next to one another in the last remaining campground, Wawona.  Ah, good old Wawona.  After the world was done grabbing all the sites they wanted, we were able to snag a couple leftovers just before 8:00 a.m.

Next time, I will definitely have my campground and sites already selected, so all I have to do is click “reserve” the second it turns 7:00 a.m.  Oh, next time!

If you’re interested at camping in Yosemite(you should at least once in your lifetime!), there are some things you should know.  Thankfully, www.nps.gov spells everything out very clearly.

From www.nps.gov:

Reservations are required March 15 through November for Yosemite Valley’s car campgrounds and summer through fall for Hodgdon Meadow, Crane Flat, Wawona, and half of Tuolumne Meadows.

Campground reservations are available in blocks of one month at a time, up to five months in advance, on the 15th of each month at 7 am Pacific time.

Be aware that nearly all reservations for the months of May through September and for some other weekends are filled the first day they become available, usually within seconds or minutes after 7 am!

For your best chance of getting a reservation, be sure your clock is set accurately and start the first few steps of the reservation process at www.recreation.gov before 7 am Pacific time.

Arrival date	First day to make reservations (7 am PT)
March 15 through April 14	November 15
April 15 through May 14	December 15
May 15 through June 14	January 15
June 15 through July 14	February 15
July 15 through August 14	March 15
August 15 through September 14	April 15
September 15 through October 14	May 15
October 15 through November 14	June 15
November 15 through December 14	July 15
Wawona Group site only: December 15 through January 14 January 15 through February 14 February 15 through March 14	August 15 September 15 October 15

Good luck reserving!  Happy camping!