Who has been to Yosemite Pines CG ?

[Freedom_5]

Hi everyone;
  We are looking at going to Yosemite this weekend! They say, that waterfalls are at maximum right now! We want to know if anyone has in the last year, stayed at Yosemite Pines CG? It is in Groveland; about 22 miles outside the west entrance to the National park. The web site looks great! They have open sites and at this time no reservations are needed for this weekend! Would appreciate any feedback on this campground. Thank you in advance.

[Calstate361]

Another campground that many of the NNC members have camped at is the Thousand Trails Yosemite Lakes.  It is 5 miles outside the West Gate to Yosemite from Highway 120 through Manteca.  Of course, coming from Bakersfield you may want to go a different way.  Here is the site:  www.thousandtrails.com; on the left side click on the "state" pulldown and select CA, then scroll down to Yosemite Lakes.  
 
Yosemite Lakes has a non-member area, but you can still use all the amenities that are offered to the Members.   You can also go down to the Nick-Neff-Cough thread in this board and read the Half Dome Hyjinx III thead.  There is a phone number to call to make reservations.  AND, you can always join us the first weekend in August.  We are the Superhosts sponsoring the rest of our group.
 
Joan

[Freedom_5]

Hi Joan,
 Thank you for the additional info on the Yosemite lakes/Thousand trails camp site. You mentioned that non-members could go there. I did not see that info on the web page. I am surprised that with so many Califorians that read these threads that not more people have answered the main question.
  I guess we will be the tester's and I will report back what takes place this weekend!
  The weekend in August for your trip there will be a great one. We will not be able to make it. Other plans to see the King Tut exhibit and a night at the hollywood bowl.
  Thanks again. Will you be at the Pismo rally?

[beacher]

... I am surprised that with so many Califorians that read these threads that not more people have answered the main question.....

Hello Freedom_5,

How was your trip?  My maiden voyage was at Indian Flat RV Park, right outside the west entrance.

There is ALOT more activity on popupexplorer.com, that is why there were not any replies.

[towrod]

Hope you enjoyed your trip - and thanks for mentioning the Tut exhibit!
We will be in the southland in October and booked tix to Tut once we learned about it - from YOU!  
Thanks!

[Freedom_5]

Hope you enjoyed your trip - and thanks for mentioning the Tut exhibit!
We will be in the southland in October and booked tix to Tut once we learned about it - from YOU!  
Thanks!

 You are welcome.
  Now about what we experienced this last weekend. Yosemite Pines campground would be an ideal campground but we hardly stayed there to enjoy it. It has a lot of cool things for the kids, like panning for gold; exploring a real mine shaft ( must bring your own flashlight ) a petting farm of a few llamas, goats, rosters etc. A large rec hall, complete with a big screen tv, two air hockey tables and some other arcade games. The pool had not been cleaned!
The kids playground equipment was good. They had a volleyball court set up complete with beach sand.
 The site that we had was nice. It was partially shaded and they had fireings at each spot. They have deluxe, prime and standard cabin rentals. They also have a "Yurt". It's a circular tent with bunk beds inside and a table also. Not bad.
  The campground allowed us to leave our trailer down by the rec hall after check out time on Sunday. That was a big plus for them. The campground is about 22 miles from the entrance to the park. We went both Saturday and Sunday, into Yosemite. The falls were roaring over the sides of the mountains. The river that runs next to the road going into the park was just about to run on to the road itself. Alot of sandbags had been used recently just to steer the water away from the road. Traffic was heavy both days. We went to Bridalvail falls, and got very wet! Most everywhere we went, was on foot. Only rode the shuttle bus once. All campgrounds were full. Would like to know how Yosmeite is going to do it's reservations for 2006. A change is in the works and nobody would talk about it with us except to say to wait till this fall for the change to be made.
  A couple of highlights were as we approached the campground, we had to wait for a motorcycle rally to pass by! It was over 2 thousand bikes!!! Another event was getting up close to a black bear cub, that was eating out of a dead trunk of a tree on the valley floor! Then we saw a deer in the middle of the day on the valley floor. As we were leaving the first day, my wife Trina saw, a pack of six deer up on the hillside.
  It was a very long drive home on Sunday. It took about five hours from our campsite. We did not get home till 11 pm and I had to go to work @ 4 am the next morning! Ouch!
  Till next time, keep the campfires burning.

[towrod]

Hello Sal and Joan!
  Do you still have room at this Rally?  We'd like to try to come down on Friday, August 5 and leave on Sunday, August 7.  Do you need a deposit yet?   BTW Mike/Nick will not be attending - I see you have his name on the roster with a question mark......

[Calstate361]

Hey Towrod, you're stealing Bob's thread!!!  Even though it is a related topic to Half Dome Hyjinx III.   Yes, we still have room, I'll mark you down and post another list of attendees.   Thanks for the info. on Mike/Nick, he had said something about attending a long time ago, but has not confirmed.

 
Bob, the Yosemite Lakes web site doesn't mention anything about the public side because they get enough business by word of mouth.  I had a coworker who mentioned it to her sister and they camped on the public side last year and loved it.  If you are interested, next time, in making reservations for the public side, just call (209) 962-0121.  This is the Superhost person, Charlotte, that I'm dealing with for our rally in August.  She can help anyone who wants to make reservations for the public side.  You asked if we were going to attend Pismo...NO, my husband doesn't want to drive that far.  With him being handicapped it is pretty hard on him.
 
Hope to see you soon at one of our rallies.
 
Joan

[Freedom_5]

Bob, the Yosemite Lakes web site doesn't mention anything about the public side because they get enough business by word of mouth.  I had a coworker who mentioned it to her sister and they camped on the public side last year and loved it.  If you are interested, next time, in making reservations for the public side, just call (209) 962-0121.  This is the Superhost person, Charlotte, that I'm dealing with for our rally in August.  She can help anyone who wants to make reservations for the public side.  You asked if we were going to attend Pismo...NO, my husband doesn't want to drive that far.  With him being handicapped it is pretty hard on him.
 
Hope to see you soon at one of our rallies.
 
Joan[/QUOTE]

 Joan,
  You reminded me of a point I forgot to metion in my reply. We did to the Yosemite Lakes campground just to look around. At the top of the hill from the campground, off the hwy, is an Exxon gas station. They are charging $3.51 a gallon for regular gas!!!  :yikes:
  The road going down to the campsite is a little steep. The area looked very nice. They have a small minature golf course on the left. The main area for the members is also on the left. The public side is on the right on an elevated enbankment. Looked like everyone could have full hookups and there were the standard upright bar-b-ques also. It did not seem like the private side had much shade for those out in the middle.
 Bob

[Calstate361]

Bob, you are correct and YES that gas station charges an arm and a leg, but it is the last gas station before going into the park. Last year the park prices were a bit cheaper, but who knows what they will be this year. I can't address the shade problem you mentioned because we have never gone up into the public side. Sine we are Superhosting the group, we have to go over to "Sun Valley" that is shown on the map. It doesn't have any trees either. Some people park there because it is much easier getting over the trees for their satelite dishes. BTW, anyone who camps in the public side also has use of all the Members amenities like the club house, the swimming hole, the miniture golf, horseshoes, etc. Yes, everything is full hook-up in both places. It really is a nice place and one of the few NACO/TT resorts that lets you have a campfire. That is why Sal and I go there every year. It used to be just us but when we started caming with the NNC group we started Superhosting the other people who wanted to join us. Hope you can try it out sometime.

Joan