We chose this park because it was so close to the entrance to Yosemite National Park, but were also looking forward to the amenities. Unfortunately, 95 percent of the amenities are for "Thousand Trails" members only. Their website and staff fail to make this clear, and we were somewhat disappointed. We had made our reservations understanding that our entire group of five trailers would be guaranteed spaces beside each other, but that was not the case. The manager was helpful in finding a solution for us eventually (one trailer had to stay away from the group overnight) and their staff were generally pleasant. The non-member camping area was dusty, not very shady, but clean. For "non-members" this is a no-frills place to stay, and they should make this, and their reservation policy, clear on their website. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.

Yosemite Lakes RV Park is 5 miles from the west entrance to Yosemite Nat Pk. We stayed there in late May - early June, 2006. We made reservations at least 3 months prior to our arrival and were aware that this facility was a membership park that also accepted non-members. We were led to believe that all facilities were available to all guests. When we arrived, we were greeted at the guardhouse by a man who asked for evidence of our membership. We explained that we were not members but that we had reservations (and showed him the e-mail confirmation). He informed us that the park was membership only and that we would have to leave. After some discussion, we were told to back down the 200+ ft drive and directed to an administrative building down the road. We asked if we could simply turn the rig around in the park and exit. We were told: "no". We decided to do so anyhow. At the administration building, we were told (by a somewhat embarrassed hostess) that we would not be able to stay in the "members'" park but on the "terrace" across the road. We were also informed that there were no pullthroughs, no 50 amp service and that we would not be able to use most of the park facilities. The sites on the terrace were dirty, un-maintained and uneven. The firepits and bar-b-que on our site had not been cleaned in some time and the site was littered with trash and hundred of cigarette butts. The "terrace" is, at best, a dusty, dirty parking lot. In general, the rest of the staff was friendly and attempted to cooperate, but had to enforce policies of the management. We were forced to carry our LP tank approx 100 ft to have it refiled, where members could pull there vehicle within 5 ft. Diesel fuel at the store associated with this facility cost $.70 /gal more than the price at the station in Groveland. Visitors to Yosemite Nat Pk might want to consider other accommodations before settling for this high priced parking lot. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.

Stayed here over spring break they weren't fully opened up, not all services open but it was ok place to stay close to the park. Lots to see. All in all we'd stay here again people were nice and for the most part helpful. We camped here in a Motorhome.

Stayed at Yosemite Lakes in early May 2006 and was excited about touring Yosemite. The area for RVs is basically a flat grassy area resembling a parking lot with no appeal i.e. no trees, landscaping, etc. Other than main entry roads were unpaved. Showers had hair, band aids, and other gross things on the floor. The staff was not very helpful. Will not be staying here again. Real downer after spending a day in the valley. We camped here in a Motorhome.

I discovered this campground by surfing the web. I was aware they were a membership park but they told me that they take reservations from non-members all the time. When we arrived, they asked me if we were members, and when I told them no they directed us across the street to a vacant lot in front of their maintenance building. If I wanted to camp inside the park, I would have to join. I told the idiot at the gate that this was explained to me when I made my reservations and he did not seem too surprised. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.

This is a terribly sardine packed city with a LOT of dust. There are gravel sites (semi gravel), mainly dirt roads with no speed bumps for the 7 out of 10 people going over 5 mph., thus creating more dust. We also enjoyed stepping out the door of our motorhome and having the neighboring RV's sewer pipe within 8 feet. Nice view ain't it - no sitting out along side your rig enjoying yourself here folks. Owners: Plant a bush or re-design, or put big rigs in bigger sites, ie restructure your CG. Lose a couple-three sites to make larger ones! Go ahead and charge us more, but give us some room. Why this one item wasn't designed as most campgrounds have it, (hook-ups at or near the rear of the site- not towards the middle-front), is the main reason why we wont be back. Big rig back-in sites are very small. Why I'll give them a three rather than a one: The kids enjoyed themselves, restrooms were clean and the Wi-Fi worked good. We camped here in a Motorhome.

We stayed here on our visit to Yosemite. Everything in the park is okay...bathrooms and showers, nothing fancy, but clean, everything is gravel, not much grass anywhere. Everything is dusty, even without wind. WiFi works good. We drove by the petting zoo, and really couldn't stomach the smell. There are lots of tents around, but not in the RV section, which is up a hill, around the store, through the cabins and in the back, which is okay, just don't spin your tires on the loose gravel. The reason I give this place a four is management. We checked in, and the lady working the front desk was friendly. She helped us with information on locations or restaurants, etc. When coming back from eating out we drove up the graveled hill to our site, the management, pointed at us and gave us a, "hands down" gesture, meaning slow down from 7 miles per hour. We slowed then tried to get up the hill and our tires starting spinning in all the loose gravel. He promptly continued his gestures with a nasty scowl on his face. That was our first experience with the happy people here. Next problem: the things you see on the website aren't as they appear. In the pictures you see lots of green grass, I don't know where this is. Next, the closing of the General Store, how about before 7:00 p.m. and the pool closes at 8:00 p.m. promptly, at the end of JUNE. Check his hours at his website, pool hours until 10:00 p.m. not so http://www.yosemitepinesrv.com/rules.htm We questioned the front office, we were told just about word for word, there were no pool hours, the owner closes it when he wants. This was true, the pool had about 20 or so people in it and lots of people around the pool. The owner kicked everyone out as we arrived at 7:55 p.m. It also appears there is a youth camp or group in the lower part of the park close to the laundry facilities...at least 30 or so kids running around unsupervised. when we did laundry 2 of the 4 washers were broken. It is sad this isn't a bad park, I just wish their website would update with some honest pictures and times for their facilities. If you go through all the rules they try to enforce you would hope they follow them too. Unfortunately they know there is nowhere else to go once you are in their park and that's how we were treated. That cute little guy on their website, is just a poorly painted picture on a board in the park, I think it is supposed to be the owner, but don't expect the smile, we will not be back. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.

This park was nearly as good as the other listings would lead you to believe. We had one problem with our initial campsite, but the management quickly rectified the situation. The biggest problem is the distance from Yosemite. You might think otherwise by reading the website. It takes nearly 30 minutes just to get to the entrance of Yosemite. If you are going to the village, it's at least another 30 minutes. We put over 300 miles on our truck in four days just driving to and from and around Yosemite. Overall, the park was nice. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.

We were here 2 nights. Some bathrooms were closed, and the swimming pool was closed. we were not told at the office when we registered. WiFi was not working for us. Spaces are tight. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.

Nice park with easy access to all sites. Wi-Fi is free and can be picked up at all sites. Pads are dirt and gravel leaving the potential for leveling. Some “grassy” areas for pets. At least 1 hour 20 minutes from RV park to Yosemite Village. Would have rated park higher if it had better grassy areas. Any rain here and you’ll have a big mess. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.

Park had very few campers so was very quiet. Nicely maintained, friendly staff. Trail wraps around the park for walking in the woods. They picked the space and spaced the campers far apart for privacy. Free WiFi worked great. Reservation website didn't have a box for AAA discount but they offer it and we're supposed to get a credit. I would stay here again. We camped here in a Motorhome.

The sites are excellent, panning for gold was fun and included in the price - yes, I found a few flakes of gold. The petting zoo hours are very limited from 8 to 10 AM. The pool was very nice, in fact all of the facilities were clean and in excellent condition. Each hook up area had its own small light on it to help you hook up in a late arrival. The crickets were wonderful to listen to at night! There is an actual gold mine on site - just be certain to take a flashlight as it is pitch black in there - also you need to crouch over. One other thing that I really appreciated was they had a free marshmallow roast at the main pavilion, They even drove a tractor around with a trailer (hay wagon ride) and took people to the roast!. Do they go out of their way- yes they do! I hope to return here very soon. Oh yes, the note about the road being tough for big rigs - it's true. I pulled a car behind my motorhome, and there were times I was nervous, but DO follow the campground directions from Los Angeles, they were spot on, I took both ways here (drove it on the second day). We camped here in a Motorhome.

This is a good spot for trips into Yosemite, although there is a good 45-60 minute drive to the valley. The campground was clean, same for the red dirt that covered our spot. We had a spot within eyesight of the bathrooms (where one of the WiFi antennas was located) and WiFi worked well. With a small petting zoo and a hay ride on most nights, my kids were entertained. We would stay here again. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.

We got a nice pull-thru spot close to one of the wi-fi antennas, so we got great internet service. But the park is in an area where we could not get any cell phone service (AT&T) and they have only one pay phone at the office. The park is in the forest and most of the sites have plenty of shade, and there is a nice walking trail with a par course. The laundry is small and pricey; the cable TV only has about a dozen stations, which we thought was really strange; and there are no newspapers available. They have a nice pool, but the week we were there, it was always packed with a large group of teens from France. They also have a small petting zoo, which is nice for the kids, but adds to the general bad smell around the campground. We couldn’t figure out why we would often get a whiff of a garbage smell as we walked around the grounds and even when we were at the pool. We finally discovered that the staff was moving the garbage from bin to bin with a tractor loader and then shoving it down as far as possible to make room for more garbage! During the entire 8 days that we were there, not once did we recognize that there had been a garbage pickup. Unfortunately, if you want to go to Yosemite, this is the closest campground to the north entrance. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.

I give it a 5 because I will blame the heat for some of the misery I felt, after all it was 105 degrees. The staff was not the friendliest, one of the caretakers yelled at me about something and said "I told you about this yesterday", the irony is I had just arrived to the campground that day so I still have not idea what he was talking about. We had some loud rowdy neighbors that were up until about 3 a.m. and nobody shut them down. It was an ok stay but I will probably not stay at this campground again. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.

Nice place, but a crazy drive to it. Big rigs beware the twisting narrow mountain approach. Plenty of room for each campsite, especially for a private park. We camped here in a Motorhome.

Being close to Yosemite was our first reason for staying here. Yes it's in the mountains and is somewhat dirty but overall pretty nice. The gravel sites are flat and the petting zoo was a favorite for our young children. The people were great to us and we enjoyed staying here. Again, since a lot of this is in the trees and the lots are gravel you can get some dirt in your RV but it was not a reason to dislike the place. In fact we will come back to Yosemite Pines. We camped here in a Motorhome.

Campground is located on a hillside with individual spaces terraced along the access roads. Our November, off season, visit found the park quite empty. Rainy weather provided rather muddy conditions. The parking spots are graveled and supported our coach properly, but keeping muddy footprints out of the coach was a problem. (A little more generous width to the gravel parking pads would have been nice.) Wi-Fi service was spotty -- the signal would be lost from time to time, then, when resumed, I'd often have to log in again. I was disappointed that this campground had dropped out of Passport America, as we found them through the Passport catalog. We camped here in a Motorhome.

We just returned from a stay of a couple of weeks at this campground so I'd like to do what I can to straighten a few things out. This is a very good campground that has had it's problems over the last few years. It has had different owners over the past few years but has now been purchased out of bankruptcy by a management company determined to bring the camp back to life. The present owners have had it less than a couple of years but they are already putting money in. The pool, which received several complaints, has been rehabbed with new plaster, tile, and a big new filter. The sites received bad press because they are all dirt. That is true. A guy they hired to level things off scraped all the gravel off, leaving red dirt. The managers know this and are trying to reestablish the sites by bringing in gravel and doing all they can to spread it and compact it in. The facilities are very good. There are clean restrooms, a neat club room, a small store, and a 24-hour laundry. The wi-fi worked great. For the kids, there is gold panning and a cool petting zoo. My kid went to feed the animals every morning and they (the humans and the animals) always treated her well. Sites were good. We are on the top level, area B, and our site was very level. My jacks went down only to stabilize, not to establish level. Hook-ups worked well and I had no complaints. Each site had a fire ring, a table and plenty of room. If I sound like we liked this place, we did. We had stayed here years ago and after I read the bad reviews, we nearly passed on it. I'm glad we stayed here. The managers are obviously trying to improve the camp and the owners are spending money to improve things. We will go back here in the spring to enjoy Yosemite after it wakes up from winter. I recommend you try this camp. We camped here in a Motorhome.

After being mislead by another campground in the area, my family and I had to scramble to find another place to stay. The folks at Yosemite Pines were very accomodating and they helped salvage our vaction. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.

This park is on a red clay hillside with very little gravel in the sites and if there's any moisture, you'll have to leave your shoes outside or face terrible, permanent carpet stains from the sticky clay that will mound up on your shoes. We had to use 4 wheel drive to get into our site because of the way the sites are positioned--but not all sites are as difficult. The bathroom by the pool and rec. room was filthy, but the upper one by our site was clean. The staff is curt and acts as if they couldn't care less if you ever return--which we won't be doing, even if we do come back to Yosemite. I called for reservations and was rudely told to "hold on", while I heard the clerk carry on a lengthy conversation with a camper. I finally gave up after using way too many cell minutes and made reservations online--but beware, if you make them online, they're totally non-refundable which was not a problem for us--just a warning. We needed quarters for the dryers to finish up our laundry and asked to buy a roll. The clerk told us we'd have to drive to Groveland to get quarters. Apparently the campground doesn't own the machines and they don't care whether you can use them or not. While it's probably not the worst campground we've seen, we have been on the road for 6 weeks all over the West and have stayed in so many wonderful ones that this one was very disappointing. On a positive note, they did offer free wi-fi and had very basic cable. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.

This place is not what their web site advertises it was a muddy mess! Pool was green, their petting zoo was ankle deep in mud. I can understand just getting going from winter but man! r.v sites are all on side hills very little gravel no concrete. We left did not stay there and we won't be back! We camped here in a Motorhome.

After having a bad experience at Yosemite Lakes, moved down the road to Yosemite Pines. Yosemite Pines is about a half hour from the main entry to Yosemite Valley. The park has a rustic, woodsy feel, with gravel roads and a terraced hillside setting. The staff was very friendly and helpful and a campworker guided us to our site. The campground has a very well stocked convenience store, pool, and a tot lot for kids. My kids really loved the petting zoo which featured a pair of lamas. They also have a number of cabins and yurts which seemed pretty neat to stay in next time. The free wi-fi is great. We camped here in a Motorhome.

This campground only looks good in it's own advertising. The sites were small, cramped and very dusty (no stone base or grass). The pool was a disgusting dark green and my kids would not go near it. Restrooms were dirty, showers were cold, paper towels not refilled. No working machines in laundry. Staff would not honor the advertised AAA discount-said it wasn't valid if I booked online! Campground is an hour to Yosemite. Would only reccomend this place as an absolute last resort We camped here in a Tent Trailer.

This is one of the worst RV parks we've ever stayed in. I had read good reviews about this park and was really excited to try it out. It started off bad with the rude staff. The sites were dirty and uneven. I was never able to level our trailer. The pool was so disgusting my girls didn't want to swim. After all that it takes an hour to drive to Yosemite. We will not be returning and recommend you find another RV park. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.

The staff was friendly and the ammenities were nice. There was a nice rec room with free air hocky, ping/pong and a big screen TV. There was also a nice new playground and the pool was nice. The only real complaint were the actual sites. Ours was very small and very off level. We could not even find a level spot to put the picnic table, which made frying scrambled eggs next to impossible. Also the sites are just dirt. Some had gravel but ours did not. So we tracked dirt in everywhere. Don't even think of staying here if its raining. Also it was too hilly to bike ride around the park. We've stayed at nicer places for less. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.

I agree with most of the previous comments re: the improvements made by the new owners and better management staff. The one major improvement that I hope is high on the list is to asphalt the dirt/gravel roadways servicing the camp sites. It gets quite dusty with vehicles driving by. The restroom/showers were adequate but not the most modern. No matter how often they clean the restrooms, the red clay dirt that people drag in because of the unpaved roadways creates an immediate dirty situation. The new yurts and cabins are nice and offer a good alternative for tent campers. I camped in a trailer with water and electric only. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.

Getting to this park requires climbing a very steep grade from hiway 49. I would not recommend descending on hiway 120 unless you have an exhaust brake. The turn off to the park is not well marked. I found the sites to be adequate but very dusty as none of the access roads are paved. During my stay, the park lost all water pressure and it was not restored before I left. I was not impressed with this place. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.

Nice wooded type spots with friendly staff . Easy access to camping spots with a big rig and had a great time with our 5 y/o at their new playground!!! We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.

Yosemite Pines has undergone a major improvement since we stayed here three years ago. The facilities included a well stocked general store, clean bathrooms, and best of all free Wi Fi! The park has a very woodsy feel and it's terraced into the hillside. We even saw a couple of deer in the morning. The cabins looked great but they were booked when we stayed there. Lots of amenities including a tot lot and pool for the kids. The park is about a 20 minute drive to the main entrance. Will come back next year. We camped here in a Motorhome.

We went to this park specifically because the website stated they had internet connections at some sites: this is patently untrue. Management did direct us to a phone jack in the rec room, but that's hardly the same. In addition to this irritation, the men's bathroom had standing water, the office has *three* different sets of operating hours posted, and you get to figure out which is correct. In the rain the entire place turns into a muddy disaster that you will track into the motorhome no matter how much you wipe, and that red mud looks so good on the carpet: if the sites were properly gravelled this would not happen. The "arcade" has two video games, one of which does not work. We won't be returning. We camped here in a Motorhome.

Overall, I was very happy with this campground. Staff was pleasant and facilities were well kept. Pool was in need of restoration. Internet access was a kiosk in the camp store. I do not know if there was a modem hookup for your own computer. Campsite trees give a nice woodsy feel but need to be pruned to avoid scratching vehicles. After reading the negative reviews I was fearful of trying this place but was happy that I did. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.

If you do not need hookups and want to stay in Yosemite, check www.yosemitesites.com for space availability. Unfortunately, the summer months are usually booked. If you are driving from the Bay Area or Sacramento I would recommend Yosemite Pines RV Resort and Campground in Groveland. There are new owners and managers of Yosemite Pines and they have put a lot of money into the park and campgrounds, bought a number of new cabins, tents, etc. and renovated the clubhouse and store. Bathrooms are clean and the place now looks great. Lots of great amenities including pool, petting zoo, gold mine tour, clubhouse, etc. In addition, campground has hookups. If you want to stay in a little more luxury than an rv or tent, they have cabins for rent as well. If you are coming from the south entrance try High Sierra RV Park. High Sierra is located in the heart of Oakhurst and is walking distance to shops and restaurants. It has a great location and is a quaint little rv park and campground situated on the banks of the Fresno River. We camped here in a Motorhome.

We stayed here several years ago and am suprised how nice the park has turned out. The owners have apparently put in alot of money and hired new on-site management. The park offers a nice, woodsy feel with many shaded sites. It's about a 30 minute drive to the north entrance to Yosemite. If you are coming from the Bay Area this is the place to stay if you need hookups as Yosemite National Park does not offer hookups. We camped here in a Motorhome.

We had a great time. Was here a few years ago and the place NOW looks great. Always like the location. Now the park is looks great as well. May be new managers - something changed. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.

I saw this park listed as one of the eighth best RV parks to see in the country by Travel Explorer. I had read some of the older reviews and was a little suspicious. Since my wife and kids were coming fom San Jose to Yosemite for the weekend we decided to check it out. By far the nicest park and best location to Yosemite from Route 120. The new owners have completely renovated the park and they have a great amenity package. It's one of the newer parks and they have a petting zoo, huge pool for the kids, cabins. Next time up we will probably stay in a cabin and they are pretty neat. I would definitely recommend this place and will come next year. We camped here in a Motorhome.