Yosemite National Park’s largest campground has officially reopened after a three-year closure and a $26 million renovation project.
Tuolumne Meadows Campground, a 140-acre area with 336 campsites that can host 2,200 visitors a night, reopened Friday following a lengthy and expensive rehabilitation effort, the National Park Service announced. First built in the 1930s, the campground closed in 2022 in order to improve its roads, restrooms and sewer system.
The campground is located along Tioga Road, about a 90-minute drive from Yosemite Valley. It’s often used by visitors as a basecamp from which to explore the park’s vast backcountry, with nearby trail systems that connect to a number of high-country alpine lakes, waterfalls and granite peaks.
“Tuolumne Meadows is a treasured destination for families, backpackers, equestrians, and nature lovers from around the world,” Yosemite acting superintendent Ray McPadden said in a news release.
Renovations to the campground were funded by the Great American Outdoors Act, a 2020 law that set aside up to $1.6 billion annually for five years to fund deferred maintenance and rehabilitation projects on public lands and at tribal schools. Some improvements made to Tuolumne Meadows Campground include new and upgraded restrooms, 29 new hike-in campsites, new campsite amenities like picnic tables and fire rings, upgrades to the campground’s water and sewage systems and restoration work to protect the nearby Tuolumne River. Improvements were also made to the campground’s amphitheater, known as the Dana Campfire Circle.
Reservations for Tuolumne Meadows first went up on Recreation.gov July 1, and spots at the popular campground are known to go fast. Reserving a spot there is complicated by the staggered reservation system, which releases 143 sites two weeks in advance and the remaining sites in batches on the 15th of each month, according to Mike Lee, founder of the campsite reservation alert app Campsite Tonight. Lee recommends waking up early to book sites at 7 a.m. on the day they are released or setting up alerts for campsite reservation cancellations.
