Best For
Equestrian campers targeting the high country around Tuolumne Meadows at 8,600 feet. With only 4 sites and access tied to the Tioga Road and Tuolumne Meadows Campground rehabilitation status, this requires careful pre-trip verification.
4
Sites
No
Hookups
Tuolumne Horse Campsites offers 4 equestrian nonelectric sites within the Tuolumne Meadows Campground area at 8,600 feet on Tioga Road, approximately 8 miles from the Tioga Pass Entrance Station and 55 miles from Yosemite Valley. As with the main Tuolumne Meadows Campground, verify current operating status before planning — the broader Tuolumne area was undergoing rehabilitation in 2024. The 27-foot vehicle maximum accommodates horse trailers within that constraint. No booking window or rating data is available in our current dataset, making this one of the least data-transparent campgrounds in the park; monitor Recreation.gov and the Campsite Tonight live calendar closely around the typical Tioga Road opening window.
Content from Yosemite National Park park guide
May and June offer the best balance of good weather and last-minute booking opportunity — May park-wide runs 44.5% last-minute across 17,031 reservations, and Valley campgrounds like Lower Pines hit 36.4% last-minute that month. July through September is peak season with 38–41% last-minute rates park-wide, but Valley sites fill hardest, with North Pines showing 40.4% of August reservations made 6+ months in advance. October is counterintuitively the hardest month park-wide at 34.8% last-minute despite being post-summer, driven by fall visitors; November and December drop sharply to 43–44% last-minute for those willing to camp in cooler conditions.
The free Yosemite Valley Shuttle operates year-round and is the primary way to move between campgrounds, trailheads, and facilities without driving — essential during summer when parking lots fill by mid-morning. Tioga Road (Highway 120) is typically open late May or June through November, unlocking Crane Flat, White Wolf, Porcupine Flat, Tamarack Flat, and Tuolumne Meadows campgrounds; check NPS road conditions before any Tioga Road trip since opening dates vary by year. Glacier Point Road, which accesses Bridalveil Creek Campground, has its own seasonal opening tied to snowpack.
Address
Yosemite National Park, California
Coordinates
0.0000, 0.0000
Lassen National Forest
Lake Clark National Park & Preserve
Arkansas River - Robert S. Kerr Pool
Knightville Dam
Keystone Lake
Milford Lake
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The park entrance fee is $35 per vehicle for a 7-day pass. Nightly camping rates vary by campground but generally run $26–$36 per night for standard sites. The America the Beautiful Annual Pass ($80) covers the entrance fee for the pass holder's vehicle and is worth it if you're visiting two or more federal fee sites in a year — it does not reduce the nightly camping fee. Horse campsites at Wawona and Tuolumne require separate reservations from the standard campground bookings.
The 7-day stay limit applies at Valley campgrounds (Upper Pines, Lower Pines, North Pines, Camp 4, Wawona, Wawona Horse Campsites); most other campgrounds allow 14 days. Cell service is unreliable throughout much of the park, particularly at high-elevation Tioga Road campgrounds — download offline maps before arrival. The nearest full-service towns for supplies are El Portal (just outside the Arch Rock entrance) and Mariposa to the south; Yosemite Village has a grocery store but expect premium prices and crowds.