Tuolumne Meadows (Yosemite High Country)
Yosemite National Park · near Lee Vining / Yosemite · Sierra Nevada / Yosemite
Camping · Rock Climbing
At a glance
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Elevation
- 8600
- Campsites
- ~300 sites (rebuilding)
- Season
- Summer only (Tioga Pass open, ~July–Sept)
- Fee
- ~$36/night
- Skill level
- intermediate
- Grade range
- 5.6 (Puppy Dome) to 5.13 (Medlicott Dome)
- Best season
- July–September only · Snow covers approaches spring and fall · Coolest high-country climbing in California
Permits and booking
- Reservation required
- Yes
- How to reserve
- Reserve on Recreation.gov. Yosemite's subalpine high-country campground at 8,600 ft, in the vast Tuolumne Meadows along the Tioga Road. Open only when Tioga Pass is open (roughly July–September). Note: the campground has been undergoing rehabilitation — check current site count/status.
- Permit
- No permit for day climbing. Overnight wilderness permits required for backpacking (quota-based, competitive). Timed entry reservation required for driving into the park during peak season.
What is here
- Setting
- mountain
- Amenities
- Subalpine meadow & granite domes · Tuolumne River · JMT/PCT trailheads · Cooler high-country escape
- Best for
- High-country Yosemite hiking base
- Features
- 8,600-ft subalpine meadows · Granite domes & the Tuolumne River · JMT/PCT & Cathedral Lakes trailheads · Cooler than the Valley
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
- Good for a first timer
- No
Camping detail
- Camp type
- developed · rv · backcountry
- Intl tip
- Reserve on Recreation.gov. Open only when Tioga Pass is open (≈July–Sept). CHECK current status — the campground has been under rehabilitation. Hike Cathedral Lakes, Lembert Dome, and the high country. Cooler than the Valley; nights are cold at 8,600 ft. Store food in bear lockers. Combine with the Tioga Road and Mono Lake.
Rock Climbing detail
- Climb types
- trad · multi-pitch · sport
- Rock type
- Granite (domes and slabs)
- Route count
- 275+ routes documented · 100+ miles of High Sierra alpine terrain
- Signature routes
- Cathedral Peak (SE Buttress) · Matthes Crest Traverse · Puppy Dome
- First timer note
- Puppy Dome is accessible for beginner climbers with prior instruction. Slab climbing technique is unintuitive — the YMS Tuolumne clinic is the right intro. Don't come here expecting to solo a beginner route without prior experience or guidance.
- Intl tip
- Tuolumne is on Tioga Road (Highway 120), which crosses Yosemite from west to east and offers some of the most dramatic high-country driving in the Sierra Nevada. Combine climbing in the morning with a drive to Mono Lake, the eerie saltwater lake east of the park, in the afternoon.
The guide
Tuolumne Meadows is Yosemite's sublime high country — a vast subalpine meadow at 8,600 feet ringed by granite domes and peaks, …
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Tuolumne Meadows (Yosemite High Country) — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.873, -119.354