Tuolumne Meadows campground access before opening date?

Most likely TM Campground will be open by July 15.   The area has received a lot of snow this year, but if the campground is still closed by the 15th I’d be surprised.  What direction will you coming from, east(Lee Vining) or west?  On the west approach there’s various camping sites, but online some show as not opening until mid-July even at the 6,200 foot elevation, which having it snowed in at mid-July at 6,200′ is incorrect.  It looks like someone needs to show correct opening dates.

It is entirely possible that the campground could be still closed if the winter turns out to be a big as it promises to be. But I suspect some arrangement could be made if that is the case. The latest that the Road has been opened to Tuolumne is July 1st; in the last monster snow year (2011) the road opened June 18th. Campgrounds generally do not open for a while after the road is cleared.

The park has a web page with road plowing updates that they post in the spring,

https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tioga.htm

plus they put that on their Facebook page I believe. You would do well to check that page starting around the first of May to see how things are shaping up. And I would contact the wilderness office and ask them about the scenario of road being open but campgrounds still closed at the time you will arrive.

NPS should be able to provide some guidance.

Alternately you could also stay just outside the park in a US Forest Service Campground – Tioga Lake Campground, or the Junction Campground (at the intersection of 120 and the road to Saddle Bag Lake).

Here are the historic opening dates for the TM Campground from 2000 to the present:

https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/seasonal.htm

For anyone interested, here’s what the ranger had to say about the possibility of a late opening campground:

• The only other year in recent memory with snow like this one (which was 2011), TM campground opened July 15.
• If the campground opens July 15 this year, then you are not allowed to use the backpackers portion of the campground either before July 15.
• If TM campground happens to open before July 15 this year (snow melts faster than expected), then campground reservations will be 100% walk up until July 15 (presumably the wilderness permit rights to a night in the backpackers camp will still apply, but only if you have a permit starting from Lyell the next day).
• The timing for opening of TM facilities is typically 1-2 weeks after the road opens. The ranger suggested keeping an eye on the Yosemite FB page for up-to-date info on road opening as the date approaches, which may give an idea of whether the campground will be open for business on a walk up basis before July 15.

Thanks for the alternative suggestions – I’m looking into those as well, just in case!

Have you considered sleeping in your car at one of the road side pull-outs or at a trail head? It’s technically not legal but I seriously doubt rangers would care or be out patrolling in the middle of the night. I did that last year when I didn’t realize that the campgrounds were closed and I saw many people doing the same thing.

You do realize that if the campground doesn’t open until July 15 that your entire itierary heading south from Tuolumne Meadows will be under snow, right?   While the snow may linger a bit longer in the campground due to trees, TM is around 9000 feet, and the rest of your hike, until you get past Garnet Lake, is all higher than this.  Expect deep snow on the passes, roaring stream crossings, and mud, mush, and swamp in many places where the snow has melted.

It’s a big snow, late year.  July is the new early June.

No matter the campground situation, you will be hiking through a lot of snow on either side of the high passes this year. Nothing you can’t do as long as you are prepared for it, especially navigational wise. I did it as a PCT hiker in a average snow year in June. I suspect July will seem like June did this year.

Did they change the rules? I use to camp in the backpacker part of the campground before it formally opened several times. The rangers I met on the ground never had a problem with that as long as I had a backpacking permit that either had already started or would begin the next day. It’s been a few years, but I’m surprised if that’s changed.