Highway 1 and Yosemite Camping
 

My husband and I are planning a trip to California for mid to late March. We would like to do some tent camping in Yosemite and along the coast (Montery, Big Sur area). Does anyone have suggestions for good campsites? We like roughing it but only to an extent - we require shower facilities. They don't have to be fancy but they do have to exist.

We would LOVE to camp w/ a view of the ocean but I understand these sites are few and far between and difficult to book. More than anything, we don't want to be in a field of tents, we would like some sort of privacy, seclusion. Large trees, river nearby would be great.

Also, can someone comment on the weather - is it just too that time of year to camp in those areas?

thanks in advance.

I haven't stayed here, but this place has a few ocean view campsites - www.treebonesresort.com

It looks like they only have 5 campsites and 16 yurts so I don't think it would feel crowded.

As far as Yosemite camping goes, they open up their booking 6 months in advance. Book early - although March may not fill up as fast as other months. And I believe they have pay showers in the central valley area. I'm not sure you can get away from "crowded" tent camping in Yosemite unless you go backcountry, but backcountry doesn't have showers. You have to get a permit for that if you're interested. When we stayed there last October, we were in the North Pines campground and had more than enough space to spread out. Yes, we had neighbors but we were by no means on top of eachother. Have fun. Yosemite is gorgeous.

In Big Sur, I recommend the Ventana Campground, located along a creek amongst a redwood grove in a canyon. The sites don't have an ocean view, but they have all the other characteristics you asked for. And there is an excellent restaurant on the property (Cielo) with an outdoor terrace which has an outstanding, sweeping high altitude ocean view. The restaurant is very pricey for dinner but much more moderate at lunch. And you can enjoy the best of the view with beverages on the terrace without having to buy a meal.

Here's the campground web site:
http://www.ventanawildernesscampground.com/

I also recommend you avoid a campground named Fernwood. Noisy, tacky, packed.

Are you car-camping or backpacking?
Sounds like car-camping.

Because you want seclusion, river nearby, large trees === so does everyone else. The are is not "ruined" but has been staked out already. Have you looked into Yurts? You can reserve a Yurt and find most of what you are seeking. It costs more.

The more you want, the more it costs. $30 will get a nice site amidst large trees on the river at Julia Pfeiffer campground. But not privacy.

Are you car-camping or backpacking?
Sounds like car-camping.

Because you want seclusion, river nearby, large trees === so does everyone else. The area is not "ruined" but has been staked out already. Have you looked into Yurts? You can reserve a Yurt and find most of what you are seeking. It costs more.

The more you want, the more it costs. $30 will get a nice site amidst large trees on the river at Julia Pfeiffer campground. But not privacy.

I just wanted to comment on the weather in March. This can be one of the rainiest months on the California coast. Even if there is no rain, you can expect plenty of fog.

In Yosemite, there's a good chance that there will be snow on the ground, and some roads may be closed. (Some friends played in the snow in the northern area of the park this past August!)

check www.wunderground.com for historical weather info. for the areas you plan to visit.

Patty - Tree Bones Resort looks terrific. Although I am not the originator of this thread, I have been thinking about planning a trip to Big Sur in the spring. I had been thinking traditional tent camping, but the yurts look really fun.

J_Correa,
I tried to stay at Treebones in August but didn't plan enough in advance to get a reservation. My sister stayed there in May and she liked it quite a bit. The only negative she mentioned was that some of the yurts are close to each other, so you do get some noise/obstruction. I think she was in yurt #8. I've noticed that the reviews on tripadvisor are VERY mixed. People seem to either love it or hate it. I still want to stay there, maybe next spring.

I just went to trip advisor to check out the reviews. Definitely mixed.

It seems like a few of the people who gave it bad reviews were unlucky with the generator problem - hopefully by spring the owners will have worked that out.

With others, it seems like they expected something different than what the resort is.

The people who liked it couldn't say enough good things about the place though.

For Yosemite, there are pay showers at Curry Village. The tent cabins aren't quite roughing it, but they are a form of camping. Otherwise, you can stay at any campsite and walk/drive/shuttle down to Curry Village.

What I like about Yosemite Valley Camping is that they have flush toilets and electrical outlets in the bathrooms. Showers are a short distance away at Curry Village, a bike ride/shuttle bus away from the campground.

In March, you might just get some privacy in Yosemite. There are three campgrounds -- North Pines, Lower Pines and Upper Pines. All have varying positions by the Merced River and the Tenaya Creek. The least number of campsites and most secluded is found at North Pines, and it is surrounded on three sides by water. Caution, however, it is also bounded on one side by the stables, which can get stinky, depending on which way the wind is blowing!

Lower Pines is in the middle and, in my opinion, you get the most bear sightings in that campground.

Upper Pines has the most sites, and also allows dogs. It is generally the noisiest.

You can find the campsite locations on the reservations.nps.gov website. Get to Yosemite Park, then there's a header entitled Maps, and you can click on each campsite to give you an idea of the location of each site. Making the actual reservations on line is a bit painful, because it doesn't check all of the campgrounds in the Valley to see what's available, only the one you are interested in. But if you get several sites in the campground to choose from, it does give you a good description of the site itself (size, how much flat space, shady, etc.)

I was just in Yosemite. Camp 4 is a walk-in campground but accessible to the main road. Walk-in means you'll have a slightly more peaceful existence than at the drive-in campgrounds at the Pines, although the Pines are closer to Camp Curry Village. However if you do stay at Camp 4 you can drive (or shuttle to Curry Village, which had punlic showers. The Yosemite Lodge has a food court and is near Camp 4. There are no public showers at the Lodge. Be sure to bring your own firewood into the park. It might be nippy at night, you would need a heater or else stay at one of the heated tent cabins in Curry Village.

The Big Sur campground with showers is Pfeiffer-Big Sur state park, not Julia Pfeiffer-Burns. Julia Pf-B. has two walk-in campsites, beautiful site above the waterfall, but no showers, and the sites are booked well in advance.

In March, you have a good chance of finding Pfeiffer-Big Sur less crowded, but still no guarantees of privacy. Pf-Big Sur is in the valley, so no ocean views.

There's plenty of firewood at both Yosemite Village store or Curry Village. No need to drag it in.

You have received lots of good info so I won't repeat

BUT just so you realize March in Yosemite could still be quite wintry. Late snow storms in March or even April are not at all uncommon. This year it was still snowing into early May.

The pictures were taken in early March of this year:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...p;tid=34614008

Loved those photos. Hey, we were thinking of doing a winter trip to Yosemite. Where is Badger Pass from the Ahwahnee?

You take a shuttle from the valley floor to Badger Pass, at least in the winter. It's free. Badger Pass is on the road to the southern entrance of the park.