Yosemite changes campground reservations

Press release from Yosemite National Park:

  Yosemite National Park Announces Changes to the Campground Reservation

                                  System

  New Policies Implemented to Ensure Equity and Fairness to Park Visitors

Yosemite National Park announces three changes to the way in which visitors make camping reservations for campgrounds operated by the National Park Service (NPS) in the park.  These changes are being implemented in an effort to thwart and discourage misuse of the camping reservation system that all visitors currently use when making campground reservations within Yosemite National Park.

The first change will require all visitors checking into a campsite in the park to show identification upon arrival at the Campground Reservation Office.  Currently, campers do not need to present any form of identification to secure their reserved campsite.  However, this new identification policy is being implemented to make sure that the person who arrives at the campground office is the same person who made the campground reservation.  This new procedure will commence for all check-ins beginning tomorrow, Wednesday, June 8, 2011.

Also starting tomorrow, campground reservation holders will no longer be able to change the name of the person on the campground reservation.

Previously, the original name on the reservation could be changed online on the reservation contractor’s website.  This would not change any components of the existing reservation.  However, this change precludes the ability to change the name on a reservation once the reservation is made.  There is a

$10 cancellation fee for any reservation that is cancelled.  Further, the same reservation under a different name is not guaranteed.

The final change to the campground reservation system will be implemented later this summer.  This alteration will change the way in which cancelled reservations are released back into the system.  Currently, once a reservation is cancelled, the campsite is put back online to be purchased.

However, under the newly implemented system, the campsites that become available can only be reserved by calling the campground reservation phone number.  There is no date available for this change.

All campsites reserved in Yosemite National Park are reserved through a

contractor, Active Works.   The website is www.recreation.gov.  They can

also be reached at 1-877-444-6777.  The park is implementing these changes to ensure equity and fairness for visitors wishing to make a campsite reservation within Yosemite National Park.

                                   -NPS-