Lower Lee Vining Campground

We decided to try a new style of camping and this campground was ground zero for the truck tent experiment 🤓 It’s location to epic natural wonders as well as ease of use were among the reasons we looked at this place. And then we got there and were extremely happy to find a nice small spot for the night. It’s all we needed. Later walking around we saw the options of much bigger spots of varying kinds.
Beautiful in Autumn! We were fortunate to see the beginning of the tree color change. It’s cold at night, but you can easily prepare for that. Make a nice campfire if you so please.
Camp host was a good guy and nice to chat with.

*Bring your septic safe TP! Because…you know.😉

Stayed at this campground mid June 2021 for about 5 days. We had a site close to the stream. The campground can be a bit noisy when people dont turn off their generators but there is a very nice camp host there (Kevin) who tries to enforce the curfew on this. In addition, this campground is in a great location for anyone wanting to explore Yosemite and Lee Vining. It is also not far from June Lake. The host also gave us a lead on where to fish and where to go gold mining (no kidding!). Nice to have someone there who could give us the scoop on "where the locals go". Thanks Kevin!

17-18 October, 2020
Our site butted up to the woods near the main part of the campground. Just enough room for our setup with the added benefit of having the stream just a short walk into the woods.
We stopped here to have a couple down days after Yosemite and we’re not disappointed.
It is quite peaceful, and we were there on the weekend.
Do not miss Mono Lake while in the area.
Also there is a water department fill station just up the road towards Lee Vining. Some dump stations in the area as well.
Area was very clean and the camp host was very nice as well.
ATT coverage near the road but not at our site.

We stayed here September, 2018 on our way South from Oregon. We like off the grid, dry camping and randomly came here. Walked the campground road and found site 17 to be nice for us - we have a 19' Rpod and a long truck. If we don't have to un-hook, we like it! Nice walking here for us and the dog and creek access for our old (now deceased) Lab (we planned our camping around water for her). Porta potties in our section and that's about it. We enjoyed it for nature, the trees, the creek and it was quiet - we were here on a Monday, so the weekenders were gone.

Cool, crisp autumn nights & glorious days despite some smoke from wildfires. Site 0 and 47 seem best for Class A DP coaches. Vault toilet, trash & drinking water available. $7 price reflects Senior Pass (50% off).

Lovely time of year to travel Tioga Pass Road to Yosemite Valley. Covid limited entry to national park required advanced registration on recreation.gov for a $2 fee. Glad #’s were reduced, but still many visitors.

Mono Lake is creepily gorgeous! Lee Vining Market has interesting (and good) single beer choices, and basic grocery goods but prices are typically high for a remote area.

We stayed here 5 nights in July, 2020. It is conveniently located 10 miles from the east gate to Yosemite, and just a few miles from Mono lake. There is a rough gravel/asphalt road from hwy 120 to the campground, where the road turns to dirt. People drive in and out all day long kicking up dust. There is one pit toilet in the front section, and some porta potties in the back. There is no water. Lots of groups playing loud music. We did have a deer walk by our campsite one day, and the views of the mountains to the west are spectacular.

This was only a few miles off of 395, on 120 (Tioga Pass). The Mobil station at the corner of 395 & 120 has a dump, then a mile further west towards the park, there is water fill station that has a huge turnoff area. So couldn’t be easier. Also the Mono Vista RV park in Lee Vining has public showers, $3.50 for 5 minutes. About the park; it was easy to get to, just a short ways off of 120. We are in a 40’ fifth wheel and found several spots we could get into. It is as others have said, in the first big open area. We did have to run the generator a couple hours a day. Way to much shade for our solar panels to charge up fully. ( residential refrigerator). The cell coverage reflects our signal with antenna and booster. ATT was spotty. Price is with senior discount.
Be sure to go to Bodie State Park, an amazing ghost town.

I see someone else wrote a review a day ago but decided to add mine.
This place was busy on the weekend but cleared out Sunday. Lots of options and get water right before the ranger station.
Make at a stop at the Mono Lake visitor center, awesome displays and we watched 2 movies, one about the lake and the other about the gold mining in the area.
We hiked to Oneida lake a 7 mile strenuous round trip. We met a hunter on the trail, it’s buck season so be careful.
We intended to do a hike yesterday but 120 was closed due to the snow that dropped on us Saturday night. Instead we walked back a forest service road to both Aspen and Big Bend CG’s. Both were more expensive than this one but Big Bend had water. Big Bend also had limited spots for larger rigs although a Class A found one spot. Big Bend was $24/night.
Host was great.
We paid $7/night with our pass. Not sure where the previous report said $15.

This is a dry forest service camp with outhouses/pit toilets. Sites were nice and big. Several big rigs in the park when we stayed there. Bear boxes provided for tent campers. Use them! There is potable water available at the Ranger station just down the hill from the camp. Fishing on Bear Track Creek which ran through camp wasn't very productive in mid September when we stayed there. Camp Host was very friendly. Remember that if you have an annual National Park Pass, forest service camps are half price. We paid $7.50 per night with ours. The passes also cover the day use areas as well. Ours has more than paid for itself this year.

I really enjoyed the couple of days spent here. My site backed up to the creek (River?) and sitting under the trees, listening to the water was just what I needed. Spotty Verizon cell reception. There is room on the central circle for big rigs (watch the overhead clearance coming in...) there were two diesel pushers with toads camped side by side while I was there... If you want to go further back into the campground I’d advise walking it first, it gets pretty tight. I was there in early May and Tioga Pass was still closed so it wasn’t very populated, don’t know what it would be like in “high season”. Camp host was very friendly and helpful. Be aware that fuel is VERY pricey in the area. Best spot is the station/restaurant at the junction of Tioga road and 395. Good food too... Checks or cash only for campground payment.