Largest campground at Yosemite National Park to reopen after $26 million renovation

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK Summer has returned to Yosemite National Park s High Country the snows have melted along the park s famed Tioga Road purple lupin and yellow buttercups are in bloom and the lakes provide a stunning backdrop to massive granite domes Related Articles Virgin Voyages launches its first true crime-themed cruise Chicago foodie expedition The history and mystery of ice cream sundaes Clueless -inspired hotel suite features Cher-approved closet A bounty of summer events around N E lets you revel in the season Delicious home-cooked meals can still be on the menu even in a wonky vacation rental But one common fixture has been in short supply in modern years campers That s about to change The largest campground in Yosemite National Park and one of the largest at any national park in the United States is reopening after being closed for three years for a major upgrade Workers have finished construction on a million renovation of Tuolumne Meadows Campground It is set to reopen Aug Located at feet along Tioga Road more than an hour s drive from Yosemite Valley the campground has campsites that serve more than visitors a year offering a key starting point where generations of hikers and backpackers have set out to explore Yosemite s wilderness of sub-alpine meadows Ponderosa pine forests and scenic granite peaks The campground originally was built in by President Franklin Roosevelt s Civilian Conservation Corps Back then the goal was to stop people from parking randomly in the fragile meadows The facilities they built created countless vacation memories over the decades But time took its toll This is a well-loved campground noted Kathleen Morse Yosemite s chief of strategic planning during a latest visit It has a historic and more rustic atmosphere than Yosemite Valley she explained But it was getting pretty dilapidated Drainage was poor Sites weren t level It was a free-for-all with parking Crews rebuilt the campground s aging water and sewer systems They upgraded electrical equipment and replaced every picnic table fire ring and food locker at campsites They renovated the outdoor amphitheater repaved the access road added disabled parking spaces and moved sites out of the floodplain of the Tuolumne River A welcome to Tuolumne drawing is displayed at the Tuolumne Meadows Campgrounds kiosk entrance during a tour of the renovated campgrounds in Yosemite Calif on Wednesday July Ray Chavez Bay Area News Group Yosemite National Park rangers stand at the Tuolumne Meadows Campgrounds kiosk entrance during a tour of the renovated campgrounds in Yosemite Calif on Wednesday July Ray Chavez Bay Area News Group Moshe Calm Deputy Project Manager at National Park Provision leads tour at the Tuolumne Meadows Campgrounds in Yosemite Calif on Wednesday July Ray Chavez Bay Area News Group A view of the renovated amphitheater at the Tuolumne Meadows Campground in Yosemite Calif on Wednesday July Ray Chavez Bay Area News Group Jonathan Winters left of the National Parks Facility and his dog Tuli tour the renovated Tuolumne Meadows Campgrounds in Yosemite Calif on Wednesday July Ray Chavez Bay Area News Group Show Caption of A welcome to Tuolumne drawing is displayed at the Tuolumne Meadows Campgrounds kiosk entrance during a tour of the renovated campgrounds in Yosemite Calif on Wednesday July Ray Chavez Bay Area News Group Expand Yosemite gets million visitors a year Morse reported That s hard on infrastructure We want to protect the natural support so they are here forever and provide a good visitor experience This is a crown jewel park We want to have crown jewel facilities that the society can be proud of The Tuolumne Meadows Campground is more than a stop on one of the most of famous mountain roads in the American West It s also a critical access point for the masses With campsites for cars groups and walk-in users Tuolumne Meadows makes up nearly one-fourth of the roughly campsites in all of Yosemite National Park It has been closed since for the construction which could only take place in summer months because the area is buried in up to feet of snow during winter Last week a inadequate early visitors wandered in to see its rebirth This is one of the nicer places we ve seen on our trip stated Kevin Thurston who was visiting with his wife and two sons from Houston If we lived closer we d come up here more Definitely thumbs up Nearby Meg Henry visiting with her husband Bill Henry and their two nieces from Los Osos in San Luis Obispo County remembered how the old campground had aging facilities and a scattershot parking system Meg Henry of Los Osos fills her camelback with water as her husband Bill Henry and their nieces look on at the Tuolumne Meadows Campground in Yosemite Calif on Wednesday July Ray Chavez Bay Area News Group There used to be cars everywhere Meg stated Instead of cars you see nature Campsites at Tuolumne Meadows are a night Reservations for all Yosemite hotels and campgrounds can be made at recreation gov The upgrade is the latest in a series of major renovations at Yosemite in up-to-date years Last year the park built a new million visitor center in the heart of the valley near the Village Store and completed a million renovation of the trails restrooms parking lots signs and wooden boardwalks around Bridalveil Fall This month crews broke ground on a million project to rebuild the park s -year-old wastewater healing plant at El Portal The money for the Tuolumne Meadows Campground the El Portal upgrades and several other key projects came from the Great American Outdoors Act That law signed by President Trump during his first term in provided billion in new funding to the National Park Operation and billion to the U S Forest System Fish and Wildlife Function and other federal lands agencies to upgrade long-overdue maintenance projects A buck feeds from a branch at the Tuolumne Meadows Campgrounds in Yosemite Calif on Wednesday July After three years of being closed for major renovations the campground originally built by Franklin Roosevelt s Civilian Conservation Corps in the s will open on Aug Ray Chavez Bay Area News Group Republicans who have in fresh years voted against similar environmental efforts embraced the bill after two Western senators Cory Gardner R-Colorado and Steve Daines R-Montana were up for re-election in and urged the White House to embrace a major parks bill they were supporting to help their chances Daines ended up winning his ballot Gardener lost to Democrat John Hickenlooper The money however continues to fund projects across the United States and the West In California it has paid to rebuild water lines at Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park upgrade a wastewater system at Furnace Creek in Death Valley and repave roads and build a new drainage system at Yosemite s Glacier Point Frank Dean a ranger at Yosemite from to also served for years as president of the Yosemite Conservancy a nonprofit group in San Francisco that has raised private donations to fund hundreds of projects to improve the park s facilities and restore its conditions Dean reported that although Yosemite Valley receives preponderance of the attention and visitors Tuolumne Meadows and the park s higher elevations are singularly beautiful Yosemite Valley is incredible Dean revealed Everyone should be able to see it at least once in their life But to get into the heart of the park s high country is really special If you haven t been up there you should go The meadows are flat You can walk along the river You can see iconic peaks It s an amazing place and it is easy to get to It s very special up there Jonathan Winters of the National Park Amenity and his dog Tuli walk past one of the renovated campsites during a tour of the Tuolumne Meadows Campgrounds in Yosemite Calif on Wednesday July After three years of being closed for major renovations the campground originally built by Franklin Roosevelt s Civilian Conservation Corps in the s will open on Aug Ray Chavez Bay Area News Group