Porcupine Flat Campground
1Heads up1 fire 17 mi away
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- A night
- $24From, per site
- Sites
- 56All of them booked ahead
- Season
- June 23 – October 12Open June 23 through October 12
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
Staying at Porcupine Flat Campground requires reservations. No first come, first serve sites are available. The campground typically opens in late-June and closes mid-October. The opening date varies depending on the opening of the Tioga Road and related seasonal facility and road work. Porcupine Flat Campground is located off the Tioga Road about 30 minutes west of Tuolumne Meadows and over an hour from Yosemite Valley. RVs and Trailers are not recommended for the narrow roads in this more primitive campground. Keep reading
At an elevation of 8,100 feet (2,500 m) elevation, the campground is near Porcupine Creek, which is the only water source (must be filtered, treated, or boiled). The Porcupine Creek Trailhead is nearby. There are no visitor services close to the campground. For additional park information, call (209)372-0200 or visit www.nps.gov/yose Recreation Yosemite's trails, cliffs, roads and rivers provide endless recreational activities for any kind of visitor. Hiking, biking, rock climbing, fishing, horseback riding, rafting, auto touring, and photography are all very popular activities within the park. The White Wolf area has hiking and backpacking opportunities that begin near the campground, such as Lukens Lake, Harden Lake and the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne. The Crane Flat area, 23 miles west, offers many other hiking opportunities such as Tuolumne and Merced Groves of Giant Sequoias, both of which require a 2.5 to 3-mile roundtrip hike to view. Tuolumne Meadows and all it's High Sierra wonder lie 25 miles to the east, where many beautiful day and overnight excursions await. The Tioga Road offers a 39-mile scenic drive past forests, meadows, lakes, and granite domes. The road’s elevation ranges from 6,200 feet to just under 10,000 feet. Tuolumne Meadows embodies the high-country of the Sierra Nevada and is a good starting point for countless hikes. There is little to no cell service along the road.
Facilities
Porcupine Flat is extremely primitive and has no connectivity or drinking water. Basic amenities include vault toilets, trash/recycling collection, food storage lockers, fire rings and picnic tables. Wood and charcoal fires are permitted when the campground is open. For a map of the campground, visit https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/porcupinecamp.htm Natural Features Yosemite National Park covers nearly 1,200 square miles (3,100 square km) in the Sierra Nevada, with elevations ranging from about 2,000 feet (600 m) to 13,000 ft (4,000 m). Yosemite receives 95% of its precipitation between October and May (and over 75% between November and March). Most of Yosemite is blanketed in snow from about November through May. (The Valley can be rainy or snowy in any given winter storm.) Porcupine Flat is situated along a seasonal creek which is it's only source of water. Creek water must be treated and/or boiled before consuming. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (209) 372-4025.
Nearby Attractions
Just 25 miles away is Yosemite Valley, an awe-inspiring landscape containing many of the famous features for which Yosemite National Park is known. Hiking trails and bike paths are abundant in the valley. Rafting the Merced River is a fun way to cool down on a summer day when water levels are sufficient. Yosemite Valley also offers numerous guided bus tours, educational programs, museums, ranger-led activities, and an art center with workshops. The Tioga Road offers a 39-mile scenic drive past forests, meadows, lakes and granite domes. Tuolumne Meadows embodies the high-country of the Sierra Nevada, with its broad sub-alpine meadows and granite peaks. Several trailheads line the road offering hikes to beautiful, secluded areas that can only be accessed and enjoyed by foot. Beautiful Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, just 23 miles from Crane Flat, is home to spectacular scenery and numerous wilderness trailheads.
Charges & Cancellations
Cancellations more than 48 hours in advance of arrival date will generate a refund, less a $10 transaction fee. Within 48 hours, $10 and the first night's fee are charged. One night reservations do not incur an additional $10 fee, but do not receive a refund. No-shows will be assessed a $20 service fee along with the loss of the first night's fee.
What the agency tells you
You are responsible for reading the site alerts and booking a site that will accommodate your equipment.
If arriving one or more days late, call (209) 372-4025. Your reservation will be cancelled if we do not hear from you within 24 hours of your arrival date.
Bring proof of your reservation (screen shot or paper version). There is no internet access, cell service or public phone at Porcupine Flat. - You must sign in at the entrance of the campground or you will be considered a no show and your reservation cancelled. - Make your site look occupied--leave a chair or other equipment so we know you've arrived.
Everything else this campground posts · 8
Bears and wildlife live here! Food and toiletries must be stored 24 hours/day. o Food storage lockers are provided in all campsites (45" wide x 18" high x 33" deep) o Absolutely NO food stored in vehicles o Dispose of garbage immediately in bear-proof dumpsters.
Porcupine Flat is a primitive campground with vault toilets and no drinking water. A seasonal creek runs through the campground but water must be boiled and/or treated before drinking . Do not rely on creek water being available; bring water!
Check-in and check-out time is 12 noon.
Your camping reservation does NOT get you into Yosemite for free. You must pay an additional fee per vehicle at the park entrance or buy a pass ahead of time on recreation.gov.
There are no electric, water, or sewer hook-ups at this facility; however, a dump station is located in Yosemite Valley.
Resale or auction of advance reservations is prohibited. For additional park information, call (209) 372-0200 or visit www.nps.gov/yose
Don't Move Firewood: Help protect our forests! Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood at or near your destination and burning it on-site. Moving firewood is illegal in some states. Visit dontmovefirewood.org to learn more.
Help Yosemite be a Zero Landfill park! Leave excess packaging at home. Use refillable water & propane bottles, food containers and travel mugs. Place all of your recyclable waste in designated recycling containers. For more information go to: www.nps.gov/yose/getinvolved/
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 56 · 7 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 24 ft
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets - seasonal
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- Bear boxes
- Yes
- Cell signal
- Little or none
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake, River, Creek, Meadow
- Backpacking
- Birding
- Climbing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Stargazing
- Swimming
- Wilderness access
- Night sky · 296th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 2
- Cell signal · Cell signal · Park Service says
- Spotty
- Fall color · reported 11 days ago, 39 km away
- Peak color
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 14
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $24 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
“Cancellations more than 48 hours in advance of arrival date will generate a refund, less a $10 transaction fee. Within 48 hours, $10 and the first night's fee are charged.” · this campground’s own no-show terms
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 6
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
56 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 56 mapped sitesAll 56 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 56 of the 56 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 56 of the 56 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| Porcupine | 001 | standard nonelectric | 47 ft | 148 ft | 1,371 ft | $24 | ||
| Porcupine | 003 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 40 ft | 144 ft | 1,324 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 004 | tent only nonelectric | 13 ft | 40 ft | 146 ft | 1,285 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 005 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 60 ft | 73 ft | 1,247 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 006 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 43 ft | 34 ft | 1,212 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 007 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 33 ft | 83 ft | 1,193 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 008 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 43 ft | 143 ft | 1,245 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 009 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 33 ft | 72 ft | 1,174 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 010 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 32 ft | 100 ft | 1,131 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 011 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 32 ft | 122 ft | 1,099 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 012 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 30 ft | 88 ft | 1,088 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 013 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 30 ft | 117 ft | 1,068 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 014 | standard nonelectric | 29 ft | 63 ft | 1,041 ft | $24 | ||
| Porcupine | 015 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 29 ft | 93 ft | 1,015 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 016 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 30 ft | 82 ft | 999 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 017 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 34 ft | 28 ft | 960 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 018 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 32 ft | under 10 ft | 966 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 019 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 32 ft | under 10 ft | 997 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 020 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | 36 ft | 1,024 ft | $24 | ||
| Porcupine | 021 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 57 ft | 163 ft | 1,012 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 022 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 36 ft | 183 ft | 929 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 023 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 32 ft | 128 ft | 671 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 024 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 30 ft | 118 ft | 639 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 025 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 30 ft | 123 ft | 613 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 026 | tent only nonelectric | 12 ft | 97 ft | 176 ft | 824 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 027 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 36 ft | 219 ft | 948 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 028 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 50 ft | 280 ft | 984 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 029 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 234 ft | 1,068 ft | $24 | ||
| Porcupine | 030 | tent only nonelectric | 13 ft | 25 ft | 220 ft | 1,093 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 031 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 34 ft | 199 ft | 1,149 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 032 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 34 ft | 184 ft | 1,182 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 033 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | yes | 57 ft | 288 ft | 1,058 ft | $24 |
| Porcupine | 034 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 50 ft | 316 ft | 997 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 035 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 55 ft | 367 ft | 945 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 035A | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 45 ft | 384 ft | 880 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 036 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 45 ft | 348 ft | 881 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 037 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 315 ft | 941 ft | $24 | ||
| Porcupine | 038 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 63 ft | 267 ft | 885 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 039 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 31 ft | 137 ft | 590 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 040 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 39 ft | 118 ft | 520 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 041 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 38 ft | 82 ft | 534 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 042 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 61 ft | 504 ft | $24 | ||
| Porcupine | 043 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 63 ft | 47 ft | 459 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 044 | standard nonelectric | 110 ft | 228 ft | 526 ft | $24 | ||
| Porcupine | 045A | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 56 ft | 468 ft | 631 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 045B | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 56 ft | 447 ft | 661 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 046 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 109 ft | 414 ft | 522 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 047 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 151 ft | 346 ft | 374 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 048 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 109 ft | 214 ft | 311 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 049 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 71 ft | 115 ft | 290 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 050 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 71 ft | 86 ft | 220 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 051 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 71 ft | 105 ft | 103 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 052 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 71 ft | 52 ft | 63 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 053 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 67 ft | under 10 ft | 54 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 054 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 67 ft | 28 ft | 81 ft | $24 | |
| Porcupine | 055 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 69 ft | 77 ft | 45 ft | $24 |
25 of 56 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Yosemite Creek CampgroundYosemite National Park · 2.2 mi
Bridalveil Creek Horse CampsitesYosemite National Park · 2.8 mi
North Pines CampgroundYosemite National Park · 4.6 mi
Lower Pines CampgroundYosemite National Park · 4.6 mi
Upper Pines CampgroundYosemite National Park · 5.0 mi
Camp 4Yosemite National Park · 5.0 miThe Porcupine Flat Campground is located off the Tioga Road 24 miles west from Tioga Pass, the park’s east entrance (35 minutes). From Yosemite Valley, take the Big Oak Flat Road and Tioga Road 38 miles (approximately 70 minutes). From Hwy. 120 west/Big Oak Flat Road, take the Big Oak Flat Road and Tioga Road 31 miles (45 minutes). You’ll find the campground north of the Tioga Road.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Yosemite Valley, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 20°F, day 61°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical October night 20°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or moreOutside the published season
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Porcupine Flat Campground is in California’s 5th congressional district. Its representative, Tom McClintock (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
“…good starting point for countless hikes. There is little to no cell service along the road. Facilities Porcupine Flat is…”