High Sierra Camps Lodging & Dining

High Sierra Camp Lodging

All High Sierra Camp lodging is in canvas tent cabins with dormitory-style steel frame beds with mattresses, pillows, woolen blankets or comforters. Wood-burning stoves are provided to heat tent cabins at all camps except Merced Lake. To maximize the number of people able to enjoy the High Camps, we do our best to fill all the beds. The staff makes every effort to keep members of a party in the same tent(s), but sometimes splitting a party is necessary. Also, unlike the tent cabins at Tuolumne Meadows Lodge and White Wolf Lodge, High Sierra Camp lodging is shared. If your party is smaller than 4 people, you should expect to sometimes share a tent cabin with members of other parties. Parents and minor children will be kept together.

To reduce the impact of stock on trails, guests provide their own sheets or sleep-sacks and towels. Sleep-sacks and Trek Towels may be purchased through DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite online or via mail order for confirmed High Camp Guests. Also, they are usually available for sale at the Tuolumne Meadows store.

Dining at the High Sierra Camps

Enjoy a satisfying dinner and breakfast, served family-style in a main dining tent while you meet and compare notes with other High Sierra Camp lodging guests. Every effort is made to accommodate advance requests due to dietary restrictions such as food allergies, vegetarian or vegan diets.

Sack lunches, which must be ordered the night before they're needed, may also be purchased at each camp.

For those who wish to camp in nearby backpacker campgrounds but still have hearty meals, dinner and breakfast may be purchased without the lodging. Our High Sierra Camps cannot serve more than six people per camp per night who have not also purchased the lodging option. Regardless of whether you're staying at a High Sierra Camp or nearby backpacker camp, advance dining reservations are required. For backkpacker camp lodgers, we recommend you enter the lottery for meals only. You may also check back for cancellations by calling (801) 559-4909.

Food storage lockers are available at all High Camps for your use. Freezer and refrigerator space is not available for guest use.

Find out more about what items need to be stored in food storage locker.

Amenities

Who wouldn’t want a hot shower after a day on the trail? Hot showers are available at May Lake, Sunrise and Merced Lake, but are subject to water availability. Comfortable restroom facilities are at all camps and Merced Lake and May Lake have washbasins for guest laundry. Please note: due to environmental concerns, showers are not available at Vogelsang & Glen Aulin High Sierra Camp lodging.

GreenPath & The High Sierra Camps

Each year over 13,000 visitors stay at the High Sierra Camps, and other few thousand backpackers have their meals prepared by the camps’ staff. The pristine subalpine environment where the camps are nested is more susceptible to the impacts of visitation than the developed Yosemite Valley floor. With this in mind, careful consideration is taken to provide the rustic comfort of the High Sierra Camps with minimal impact on the environment. The following programs are part of GreenPath, DNC’s environmental management system and guide to continuous environmental improvement.

• Several ecological restoration projects over the last few years brought the camps to a more natural condition by eliminating social trails, delineating clear pathways and seeding restored areas with endemic plants.
• The High Sierra Camps developed a waste minimization program, which includes recycling and composting as key elements. Camp menus are chosen to avoid items which create waste to be carried out such as whole corn and artichokes. Similarly, the High Camps do not sell beer or wine since recycling bottles would involve a 2-14 mile journey by mule there and back again depending on the camp.
• Solar powered composting toilets were added at Vogelsang & Sunrise
• Linens were discontinued in the 1990’s to reduce the amount of mule traffic supplying the camps.

Vintners' Holidays

Join us for Vintners’ Holidays each year in November and December as we celebrate winemakers' fall harvests with our enlightening Yosemite wine tastings and seminars.

Bracebridge Dinner

Bracebridge Dinner at The Ahwahnee

Select days December 13 - 25th - Come enjoy the tradition that is Bracebridge where The Ahwahnee into a 17th century English manor for a feast of food, song and mirth.

Chef's Holidays

Chefs Holiday

Yosemite’s Chefs' Holidays, held each January and February at The Ahwahnee, highlights acclaimed chefs and styles, personalities and trends characterizing the American culinary scene.