Tamarack Flat Campground

Tamarack Flat Campground is located off the Tioga Road just east of Crane Flat, approximately 20 miles (45 minutes) from Yosemite Valley and tucked away in the forest 3 miles off the road. It can only be accessed by a 3-mile-long, narrow, single-lane road with many hairpin turns, and RVs and trailers are not recommended for this hard-to-access, primitive campground. The opening date varies depending on the opening of the Tioga Road and related seasonal facility and road work. At an elevation of 6,300 feet (1,900 m), the campground is near Tamarack Creek, a seasonal water source that must be filtered, treated, or boiled. You should bring water. Yosemite receives 95% of its precipitation between October and May, and most of the park is blanketed in snow from about November through May. Seasonal facilities include tent and van sites, vault toilets, trash and recycling collection, food storage lockers, fire rings and picnic tables. There is no cell phone reception, no internet connectivity, no camp store, no ice or firewood for sale, no laundry facilities, no dump station and no showers. A hiking and backpacking trail leaves from the campground and can be used to reach Cascade Creek, El Capitan and other points along the North Rim of Yosemite Valley. Two of Yosemite's three groves of giant sequoias are in the Crane Flat area, 5 to 10 miles away: the Tuolumne and Merced Groves, each a 2.5 to 3-mile roundtrip hike to view. The trailheads are accessible year-round, although trails may be snow-covered in winter, and both short hikes lead downhill into sheltered areas with flowing water, dogwood, azaleas, and ancient sequoia trees. Yosemite Valley is a 25-mile drive away, where many of Yosemite's most popular trails along with the Merced River, bike trails, beaches and picnic areas can be easily accessed. The Tioga Road offers a 39-mile scenic drive past forests, meadows, lakes and granite domes, and Tuolumne Meadows embodies the high country of the Sierra Nevada with its broad sub-alpine meadows and granite peaks. Beautiful Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, just 23 miles from Crane Flat, is home to spectacular scenery and numerous wilderness trailheads.