Yosemite National Park, CA announces that a new pilot lottery program forย Campย 4ย Campground will launch on Tuesday, May 21, 2019. This daily lottery system will be operated through Recreation.gov and will help improve the visitor experience atย Campย 4ย Campground.
Campย 4ย Campground is a walk-in campground and the only first-come, first-served campground in Yosemite Valley. Visitor demands for aย campingย space atย Campย 4ย have been increasing over the past decade and the current registration system no longer serves the public and meets the needs of current campers.
Under the current system, campers have to line up and wait for a first-come, first-servedย campingย space to open. In order to wait for one of the available spaces to open up, campers line up all day, and sometime the night before, with the hopes of getting aย campingย space. This system is inefficient and has contributed to wildlife issues due to improper food storage, out of boundsย camping, and conflicts between campers.
To help resolve these issues, Yosemite National Park is going to test a new pilot program from late May to early September, using a daily lottery system similar to the Half Dome daily lottery. Visitors interested in staying atย Campย 4ย will enter a daily lottery managed byย www.recreation.gov.
The lottery opens at 12:01 am PST the day before your intended arrival date. The lottery is open until 4:00 pm PST. The lottery automatically matches applicants with the number of openย campingย spaces. All people who enter the daily lottery will be notified by email on the results of their lottery application.
This new pilot program will run through the busy summer season and will be evaluated fall 2019. For more information onย Campย 4ย Campground, please visitย https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/camp4.htm. For information in general onย campingย in Yosemite National Park, please visitย https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/camping.htm.
