Procedures (detailed) for day-of Tuolumne Meadows camping

[mokelumnekid]

(Moderators: please move if wrong forum, thx)

I haven't car-camped in TM in over a decade, maybe 15 years. So I am unfamiliar with the latest protocol for the day-of walk-up permits (half are reserved for that, all reserved sites taken in late Aug.). It used to be a lottery in the morning each day many years ago, but someone told me to, "Be there by 6:00 AM to get in line..." So can anyone tell me very specifically what the deal is so that I can be where I need to be to improve my chances. Thanks.

[maverick]

https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tmcamp.htm
https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/nrcamping.htm

[mokelumnekid]

Thanks maverick but I already read those links and they don't provide specific enough info for me to know the actual experience of first-come, first-served, and how they managed that and people's experiences. So if anyone out there has actually done this recently I'd love to here about how that went for them.

[balzaccom]

You line up outside the wilderness office--either before 11 am for a next day permit, or before 8 am for a same day permit. They give the permit speech to everyone in line at the same time...and then they issue permits based on what order you are in line.

When we got our next day permit, on a Friday morning for a Saturday hike in mid-July, there were about 25 people in front of us when we arrived at 11 am on the dot. Some had been waiting for hours.

I assume that same day permits have the same kind of pressure---and many of those permits will be gone by people taking them the day before.

[mrphil]

Still a lottery system.

Get there 5-6am. They'll give you a number and tell you to come back at 2pm when the day's cancellations/no-shows/check-outs open up. They pick your number, you get a site.

Or, you go up to White Wolf or Porcupine Flat, see what sites are open or check the posts for dates on the tags of people leaving that day, have a much better chance of finding a site earlier and more reliably. You don't get picked for TM, especially if it's going into a weekend in August, pickings will be slim to none by 2pm at the other campgrounds.

[mokelumnekid]

Thanks mrphil, that was the kind of info I was looking for. I'm confused about the mixing of the notions "first come, first served" with a lottery. If it is a true lottery it shouldn't matter when one arrives unless there are a limited number of lottery billetts distributed. I guess the idea of "lottery" isn't a random drawing from all interested parties, but rather that there is no clear idea in the morning how many spaces will be available at 2:00, so one arrives early to get a number. At 2:00 PM they start working down that number list as far as they can, not knowing in the morning how far down they will get.

Does that sound right?

(balzaccom- I was referring to the car camping not the wilderness permits, but thanks for the input.)

[mrphil]

Yep, you got it. I guess calling it a supply and demand crapshoot is a better way to describe it for walk-ins, but they can call it whatever they want to.

Let's say you're #17, and they end up with 16 sites opening up. You and everyone else shows back up at 2pm when they get to posting the list (check out is actually noon, but they need time to process and compile) except #s 5 and 9 because they got tired of waiting or went elsewhere. You and #18 do show up and end up getting those sites by default because you're actually present and are next to fill those slots for the two no-shows. Get there early and get a low #. By there on time, because #s 19 and 20 are hot on your heels and champing at the bit. That's the more accurate "first-come, first-served" aspect of it. They assign your # to a site...you take what they give you. But yeah, you get a high # with a big line queued up going into a weekend, you probably want to start working the campground circuit for an alternative. No way to really know for sure ahead of time how it's going to go. If you have any flexibility in your schedule, getting there earlier in the week increases your odds.

Whatever happened to the good old days when you could just pull your Model T out into any old meadow, pitch the tent, chop down a few trees for firewood, stroll on over with the kids to watch bears fight over garbage?

[AlmostThere]

The few times I've bothered to do this, it usually went well, because so many people know that not everyone will get a campsite they roll down to Ellery, Saddlebag, all the way down to Lee Vining, get campsites, and don't bother to come back. We had two campsites next to each other as a result. I (or one of the group who's better at driving in their sleep than me) will go up at 4 am to get in line, and we'll all show up in the morning, day hike to something, come back at 2 pm and set up camp fifteen minutes later.

If you want to have best of both worlds, have two cars and two InReach, send one car down the pass and the other waits at TM. At 2 pm the one who grabs a campsite first texts the other, "Come on over to campground X at site Y! GOT ONE"

[maverick]

For when are you planning this trip MK?

[mokelumnekid]

Hi Mav, thanks for asking. Around the last week of Aug. unless the smoke is still bad.