Location / Name: Mono Vista RV Park, Lee Vining, CA

Date: 10/06-08/2016 (3 nights)

Yosemite National Park was one of the few items on my bucket list, especially after a few of my grandchildren visited it this past summer. Campsites within Yosemite are notoriously difficult to get. I had tried for some reservations earlier this year for when my grandchildren were going to be there, and all reservable sites within Yosemite Valley were gone within seconds of them opening up on the reservation system. Amazing. I was coming in from the northeast, so the Tioga Pass entrance was the logical choice, and Mono Vista RV Park was the only game at that end of the park which had electric. So Lee Vining, California became our destination for the three nights we had available to spend in the Yosemite vicinity.

General description of park/area:

Yosemite National Park is a place you must visit. Our entry was via Tioga Pass, to which you climb around 5,000’  through an amazing deep valley from from Lee Vining to the park entry station at 9900’. And it only gets better from there, as you descend through a beautiful forest to Tuolumne Meadow, pass Tenaya Lake, and climb to Olmsted Point where you get your first glimpse of the iconic Half Dome, with Cloud’s Rest relatively nearby. You’ll never tire of the beauty of the scenery as you continue your drive down into Yosemite Valley. We picnicked along the Merced River under El Capitain, watching specks (climbers) about halfway up the multi-thousand foot rock face.

A word of warning on your timing – Tioga Pass closes in late October; we were 2 or 3 weeks ahead of that. The patches of snow on the nearby mountains and the ice in the creek provide warning of the weather that closes this eastern entrance into the park. With the pass into the park closing, Mono Vista RV Park (named for the nearby, starkly beautiful Mono Lake) closes on Nov 1 as well. But while the pass is open, Mono Vista RV Park provides an excellent jumping off point for Yosemite, even with the long drive to Yosemite Valley. If you are planning on going further south on the west side of the park (Mariposa Grove, for example) Lee Vining is a bit too far to try to do that reasonably in a day with any other sightseeing along the way. More of my Yosemite photos are available on Facebook.

General description of campground:

Mono Vista RV Park is the only RV park for miles from the Tioga Road entry to Yosemite National Park with electric hookups. It is well-situated in the heart of Lee Vining, with many sites having nice views of either Mono Lake or the mountains, or (as in our case) both. The campground has many trees which provide shade during the sunny, warm season; we wouldn’t have minded a bit more sun in the late afternoon as it cooled off in early October. The sites have picnic tables and charcoal grills, water and electric (except tent sites), and some full hookups. Cable TV was only at the sites with full hookups. The sites were roomy, with grass separating the gravel driveway of the adjoining sites. A single bathhouse is situated about the middle of the park. All in all, quite a nice RV park.

Access: Lee Vining is on US 395 just north of State Route 120, also known as Tioga Road. This is a busy highway, and quite a beautiful drive through this part of the country. While there was some work clearing a rock slide which had one lane closed just north of town as we came through, the road is excellent, albeit sometimes steep with sweeping curves. The RV park has gravel driveways which are not too wide, but wide enough, especially for the many pull-thru spaces. There were very large motorhomes and 5th-wheels in the park. Our site was near the back of the park, across from the tent area (we liked this section for its views), and it was a bit tight backing in – we had to pull into the tent areas to get a good shot at it.

Site: We were in site #21, a back-in site in the northwest corner of the park. This was a good location due to the views, unimpeded by more rows of RVs. The picnic table was in good shape, as was the charcoal grill, and the gravel driveway was level. It was deep enough to hold our T@b and tow vehicle with several feet left over. The rock-lined gravel driveway was built into a grassy area, a nice plus from some other parks where we stayed. There was a fairly large tree in the grassy areas between sites – on both sides, so the site was at least partially shaded. Cindy and I both liked the site; the only downside was it was a bit further than Cindy likes to walk to the bathhouse.

Electric: 50 amp service is available at some sites, but ours was 30/20 only. I used a basic analyzer/surge protector, and the 30-amp circuit passed the tests. It did not test for high/low voltage. The post was midway back in the site. A standard 25’ power cord should reach without problems.

Water: Water connections are available at all RV campsites. I used a pressure reducer; pressure was good. The hydrant is on the driver’s side of the back-in site, right next to the electric post.

Bathhouse: The bathhouse was clean, but had an interesting layout since they also sell access to the public, probably a pretty popular service in this area. The ladies’ and men’s toilet rooms had several toilet stalls (the men’s room also had a single urinal), and 3 or 4 sinks. The shower area was a common area, with a door leading into it from both men’s and women’s toilet rooms, and also a door leading in from outside. Each of the 6 shower rooms was private – a locking door into the room. Within the room was a small dressing area with several hooks and a bench, and a curtained shower. The hot water is token-operated – 5 minutes of hot water per token. If you are not staying in the campground, you can purchase tokens for the shower. If you are staying in the campground, they will provide you with one token per day per person.

The bathhouse was decent, but not one of my favorites. The token system isn’t terrible, but it does complicate the process. Also minor complaints about the toilet room – no hooks in the stalls, although there are shelve-like wall structures that you can place things on. Also, both men and women ran out of paper towels the afternoon on our second day there, and they were not replenished until the next day. This is probably because there are no towels provided at the dish-washing station outside the bathhouse, and folks kept coming in to get paper towels while washing dishes.

Sewer: Sewer hookup at full hookup sites; a dump station by the office as you exited the park.

Cell Phone Service: Good Verizon cell service; good 4G hotspot service.

Trash disposal: Trash cans were situated between every pair of sites. While there was a bear warning on the desk at check-in, the trash cans were not bear proof.

Cost: We paid just over $32 per night for our back-in water/electric site.

Supplies/Food: Lee Vining is a small town. There are three or four gas stations, a couple of restaurants and coffee shops, a motel or two, and a number of small shops. You probably could get most any basic supply you need, but all we purchased was gasoline. The gas ranged from $3.59 to $3.99 per gallon; we had been paying less than $2.50 per gallon on our way across Nevada.

T@b Note:

Our drive from Winnemucca, NV to Lee Vining, CA was about half on interstate and half on US and state highways, part of it on a relatively narrow, lightly used 2-lane highway (NV 338 which became CA 182) through a national forest –  where we entered California near Bridgeport. This drive was quite interesting and enjoyable. We got 15.1 mpg for the 261-mile trip.

Unlike the 5 weeks we stayed in our daughter’s driveway in Boise, we have been rolling up the bed and putting the table back up each day to eat breakfast and dinner. While we’re getting into the routine and it only takes about 15 minutes, it can also be discouraging to need to do this after a tiring day of touring Yosemite. Still, I’ll take my T@b over a big motorhome any day.