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Where to stay - waiting for JMT walk up permit at Tuolumne?

Posted: Sat May 21, 2016 9:41 am
by Granite
Hi all,

My son and I are hoping to do the JMT SOBO starting at Tuolumne Meadows this July.

I have arranged for parking at Lone Pine and a shuttle ride to Tuolumne Meadows, but the one open item is I don't have a plan for where to stay while we wait a day or two (hopefully not longer) at Tuolumne for a walk up permit near the end of July. The campground and lodge are of course fully booked.

My question is what are my options? Do people in this situation just camp in line in front of the ranger station? Or are their other options?

Thanks

Re: Where to stay - waiting for JMT walk up permit at Tuolum

Posted: Sat May 21, 2016 10:42 am
by markskor
Two of your options.

TM BP camp - (on top of the little rise - behind the store and in the center of all the car-campers...easy to find) - Never fills...always room for another. Shared sites but safe campground, (can leave tent and gear set-up), where the backpackers spend the night, no reservation needed....$6 pp/per night. Rangers check, supposed to be only one day only, but can stay 2 nights if you have the right gear and tell them you waiting on a "next day" permit. Really no problem staying there, especially if low profile. Yosemite is amazingly set-up/tolerant of the real backpacker's logistical problems...This is where you want to stay - Recommended highly.

TM main campground - the car-camping area. You stated, "The campground and lodge are of course fully booked." This is wrong. The main TM campground is 50% reserved/ 50% first come -first served. Mid-week and early, you will probably bag a site. "A" loop, (by the river) preferred, others maybe not as nice.

Where to stay - waiting for JMT walk up permit at Tuolumne?

Posted: Sat May 21, 2016 10:52 am
by Granite
markskor wrote:Two of your options.

TM BP camp - (on top of the little rise - behind the store and in the center of all the car-campers...easy to find) - Never fills...always room for another. Shared sites but safe campground, (can leave tent and gear set-up), where the backpackers spend the night, no reservation needed....$6 pp/per night. Rangers check, supposed to be only one day only, but can stay 2 nights if you have the right gear and tell them you waiting on a "next day" permit. Really no problem staying there, especially if low profile. Yosemite is amazingly set-up/tolerant of the real backpacker's logistical problems...This is where you want to stay - Recommended highly.

TM main campground - the car-camping area. You stated, "The campground and lodge are of course fully booked." This is wrong. The main TM campground is 50% reserved/ 50% first come -first served. Mid-week and early, you will probably bag a site. "A" loop, (by the river) preferred, others maybe not as nice.
Thank you!!!

Re: Where to stay - waiting for JMT walk up permit at Tuolum

Posted: Sat May 21, 2016 10:52 am
by AlmostThere
If you arrive in the park by bus, you can stay in any backpacker camp. Some rangers are not so familiar with this but it is clear in the Supervisor's compendium, which is on the park website.

Re: Where to stay - waiting for JMT walk up permit at Tuolum

Posted: Sat May 21, 2016 10:53 am
by Granite
AlmostThere wrote:If you arrive in the park by bus, you can stay in any backpacker camp. Some rangers are not so familiar with this but it is clear in the Supervisor's compendium, which is on the park website.
Thanks. I will look at that web site

Re: Where to stay - waiting for JMT walk up permit at Tuolum

Posted: Tue May 24, 2016 10:24 am
by steiny98
Not sure if this applies to you because you are taking a bus in... but if you can arrange for a ride, my friend and I drove in very late at night (2 AMish) and just waited in line for our walk up permits at the ranger station and just slept in line. We avoided having to find a campsite, and were able to secure our permits for the JMT. There were a few others ahead of us in the line when we arrived.

Re: Where to stay - waiting for JMT walk up permit at Tuolum

Posted: Tue May 24, 2016 10:52 am
by Wandering Daisy
Wow. Dedicated. :eek: Waiting in line from 2AM until the Ranger Kiosk opened. I thought people only did this for Black Friday store openings.

Re: Where to stay - waiting for JMT walk up permit at Tuolum

Posted: Tue May 24, 2016 11:45 am
by maverick
I thought people only did this for Black Friday store openings.
:lol:
Wow, have never done that before.

Re: Where to stay - waiting for JMT walk up permit at Tuolum

Posted: Tue May 24, 2016 1:48 pm
by schmalz
I'd just start at Red's Meadow and avoid that nonsense. All that hassle for 40 miles of crowded trail? Not worth it.

Re: Where to stay - waiting for JMT walk up permit at Tuolum

Posted: Tue May 24, 2016 4:35 pm
by wildhiker
As AlmostThere mentioned, the "Supervisor's Compendium" is the official document giving all the rules and regulations for use of the Park. You can find it for Yosemite at:
https://www.nps.gov/yose/learn/manageme ... endium.pdf
The section relevant to your use of the backpacker's campground at Tuolumne Meadows is on page 17. It states:

"• Backpacker camps are intended for use by visitors in possession of an overnight Wilderness
Permit or for visitors arriving in the park by foot, bicycle, or bus. Wilderness permit holders may stay in a backpacker camp the night prior to departure and the night after returning from each overnight Wilderness trip.
• Users arriving in the park by foot, bicycle, or bus may stay in each backpacker camp for a limit of one night."

So, you can definitely stay there the first night you arrive on the bus. Whether you could stay a second night depends on how lenient the ranger of the day is. Personally, I have stayed there many times before a backpack trip and have never been questioned by a ranger.

-Phil