There are campgrounds throughout the park and in forest service and some private areas outside the park. In the park you must \"check in\" and pay a fee that ranges up to $20/night, but which is lower outside the Valley in some less developed campgrounds. In Yosemite, in my experience, all campgrounds at least have pit toilets and most have flush toilets and running water.
If you want an actual shower - as opposed to a dip in an appropriate body of water, without soap, of course - you can get them in various places in the park. At Tuolumne Meadows (with some exceptions) you can pay a small fee and use the showers at the Tuolumne Lodge tent cabin camp during limited afternoon hours. There are pay showers in the Valley, but I can\'t say that I\'ve used them. There are also some pay showers in surrounding areas, including Lee Vining.
In most cases you\'ll just take your own tent and other gear. (When I\'m there primarily for photography and not other pleasures, I sometimes camp fairly primitively since I\'m usually up before dawn and back well after dark. I did a quick overnight in the Valley recently and camped in a regular campground, but just slept in the back of my Subaru Outback.) Most campsites have picnic tables and fire pits and bear boxes in which to safely store your food.
There are \"tent cabin\" facilities at places such as Curry Village in the Valley, the housekeeping camp in the Valley, Tuolumne Lodge at Tuolumne. (Please note that Tuolumne facilities are NOT yet open for the season and I don\'t think they will open until some time in June this year.) If memory serves, the cheapest Curry tent cabins are about $90/night and are fairly spartan but decently comfortable, especially in the warmer months. (You can rent them in the winter, typically for half price, and freeze...) During the high season, assume that they are all booked, though there are some ways that you might still get in. More on that next...
During the high season, especially on Friday and Saturday nights, but on every night in the busiest times, expect that virtually all camp sites in the Valley will be taken or reserved. Sites will be very hard to find at popular places like Tuolumne. All of the tent cabins will likely be booked.
If you find yourself there and are willing to strategize a bit, you may still be able to get a campsite or tent cabin. The basic idea is that you go to the campground (or campsite reservation kiosk in the Valley) as early in the day as you possible can - perhaps be in line before they open. They will have a waiting list and they take names on a first come, first served basis. For campsites, at about 3:00 p.m. in the Valley they go down the list and if there have been cancellations and so forth they offer them in order to those who are present. Often not everyone gets satisfied, but those at the top of the list often do.
It has been a long time since I tried it, but I recall that something similar happens at Curry Village and perhaps at some of the other tent cabin facilities.
If all else fails - or if you just to want to go to all this trouble - once the season gets underway you may have better luck with non national park campsites just outside the park - but later on these can even be full. (This time of year you might stand a better chance... but some of the forest service camps are not open yet.)
Good luck!
Dan
May 14, 2013 at 07:52 PM
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