Yosemite RV Camping: Length Limits and Where to Stay

Last updated October 28, 2026 · By RV National Parks Guide Editorial Team

Yosemite is a 40-foot park at its very best and a 35-foot park almost everywhere else. No campground has hookups, only two sites in the whole park (Lower Pines and North Pines) are rated for a 40-foot motorhome, and most campgrounds cap trailers at 24 to 35 feet. The roads add their own filters: Glacier Point Road beyond Sentinel Dome stops at 30 feet with no trailers, Mariposa Grove Road at 21 feet, Hetch Hetchy Road at 25 feet and 8 feet wide, and the Wawona Tunnel on Highway 41 has about 10 ft 2 in of clearance at the curb.

If your rig is under 35 feet you have real choices. If it is over 40 feet, you are camping outside the park and driving in. This guide gives the per-campground limits, the road and tunnel figures, where the dump stations are, how the five-month and two-week booking windows work, and which campground suits which rig. Figures are from the NPS campgrounds page, the NPS vehicle restrictions page (updated August 2026) and Recreation.gov, read in October 2026. Seasons are the park’s tentative 2026 dates; confirm before you go.

Campground length limits, 2026

Source: NPS campgrounds table, October 2026. Bridalveil Creek closed early on August 14, 2026 after a lightning strike damaged its water and restroom systems.

Two patterns stand out. Trailers are limited harder than motorhomes at Upper Pines, Hodgdon, Bridalveil, White Wolf and Tuolumne, because the issue is swinging a combination into a short, tree-lined spur. And the valley’s two 40-foot campgrounds, Lower and North Pines, are seasonal, so a 36- to 40-foot coach visiting between late October and mid-April has no in-park campground at all.

The NPS figures are campground maximums. Recreation.gov lists each site’s driveway length, and plenty of sites in a “35-foot” campground are 24 to 30 feet. Filter by your real length when you book; our Recreation.gov guide explains how the length filter works and why entering a shorter number to see more sites backfires on arrival.

Roads and tunnels: what the NPS restricts

The restrictions page is the one to bookmark. As of its August 2026 update:

Commercial trucking through the park is prohibited. Tire chains may be required on any road from October through April, and the park expects you to carry them.

What this means in practice: a 12 ft 6 in Class A clears every main highway tunnel by staying centred in its lane; a towed car behind a motorhome is fine on 41 and 140 but not on Glacier Point Road past Sentinel Dome, Mariposa Grove Road or Hetch Hetchy Road. If your trip includes Glacier Point or the Hetch Hetchy reservoir, plan to drive them in the tow vehicle or toad, or from a campsite in a rig under the limit. For the system-wide picture of tunnel and road caps, see our national park RV size limits guide.

Dump stations, water and generators

The NPS is blunt: no electrical, water or sewer hookups at any Yosemite campground. Three dump stations serve the park:

• Upper Pines, Yosemite Valley: free, with potable water, open all year per Recreation.gov. This is the one that matters; it also serves Lower Pines, North Pines and, in winter, Hodgdon Meadow campers who drive down.
• Wawona: about one mile south of the campground, potable water available in summer only.
• Tuolumne Meadows: summer only in normal years, and closed until further notice in 2026 for work on the wastewater treatment plant. High-country campers should arrive empty and plan to dump outside the park on the east side or back in the Valley.

Generator hours were not stated on the pages we read; the park’s campground regulations post them at each campground and they are daytime windows only. Treat Yosemite as a battery-and-solar park, and if you have never dumped tanks on a schedule set by a two-week booking, the sister site’s dump station walkthrough covers the routine.

How reservations work

Everything is on Recreation.gov and the park’s own camping page states the windows:

• Five months ahead, on the 15th of each month at 7 am Pacific: Upper Pines, Lower Pines, North Pines, Wawona (Loops B and C for April 15 to October 26, Loop A to November 29) and Hodgdon Meadow (April 15 to October 26). On January 15, for example, the whole month of June goes on sale at once. Valley sites for July weekends are typically gone within minutes.
• Two months ahead on the 15th: half of Tuolumne Meadows.
• Two weeks ahead, rolling daily: Bridalveil Creek, Crane Flat, Tamarack Flat, White Wolf, Yosemite Creek, Porcupine Flat and the other half of Tuolumne Meadows. These are the realistic option if you did not plan five months out.
• One week ahead: Camp 4 (tents).
• North Pines also runs a lottery for part of its inventory.

Reservations are required at the 13 main campgrounds from April through October and year-round at Upper Pines. In winter Wawona, Hodgdon Meadow and Camp 4 are first-come, first-served. Recreation.gov lists a 7-night maximum stay at the Valley campgrounds and Wawona from May 1 to September 15. Cancelling an individual site costs a $10 fee.

The park entrance fee is separate from camping and a campground reservation does not include it. Since the park dropped timed entry for 2026, there is no additional vehicle reservation to hold, but check the NPS reservations page for 2027. An America the Beautiful pass covers the entrance fee and is worth it if Sequoia and Kings Canyon, with their own tight limits covered in our Sequoia and Kings Canyon RV guide, are on the same trip.

Which campground for which rig

Parking a rig in the Valley

Day-use parking for RVs is limited and the NPS says it can be full by late morning in summer, especially at weekends. Class A and B rigs are sent to Curry Village or the Yosemite Falls lot; Class C to the Yosemite Village day-use area or west of Yosemite Valley Lodge. Outside the Valley there is limited RV parking at the Mariposa Grove Welcome Plaza, Sentinel Dome, Glacier Point, Olmsted Point and Tuolumne Meadows. Overnight sleeping in an RV outside a campground is prohibited. Food rules apply to RVs too: scented items may stay inside only if the rig is fully hard-sided with windows, doors and vents closed and the items out of sight, and nothing may be strapped to the outside.

Mistakes to avoid

• Booking Upper Pines with a 30-foot trailer. The RV limit is 35 but the trailer limit is 24. The site may physically fit you; the rule still applies and the ranger at the kiosk enforces it.
• Towing to Glacier Point. No trailers past Sentinel Dome, and 30 feet maximum. Unhitch at camp.
• Arriving at Tuolumne full and expecting to dump. The station was closed through 2026.
• Planning on the five-month window in the high country. Crane Flat, White Wolf, Bridalveil Creek and Porcupine Flat open two weeks out. Set a daily reminder instead.
• Driving Hetch Hetchy Road after dusk. It is gated sunrise to sunset.
• Ignoring the 21-foot Mariposa Grove figure because an older page said 25. The current restrictions page is the one rangers use.

When to go and how long

For an RV, late April to late October is the season, because that is when Lower and North Pines are open and reservations are required everywhere. May and June bring the waterfalls and the hardest booking; September is drier, cooler and slightly easier. Tioga Road and the high-country campgrounds are a July-to-September proposition. Winter is possible at Upper Pines, Wawona and Hodgdon with chains in the vehicle, and the Valley empties out. Three nights in the Valley plus two at Crane Flat or Tuolumne gives you the big views and the high country without repacking every day. If the valley campgrounds are sold out, Wawona and Hodgdon Meadow are each about an hour’s drive from the Valley and far easier to book, which is a better trade than camping 90 minutes outside the park and fighting for a day-use parking spot.