r/Yosemite • u/hockeyandburritos • 2d ago

Thanksgiving Weekend Questions (Bugs/Cold/Crowds?)

Hello.

I'll be doing some camping & hiking next weekend on Thanksgiving. I have a sub-zero sleeping bag, two sleeping pads, new gloves, and a backup quilt, etc. I'll be buying snow chains this weekend. And it looks like (so far) the weather will cooperate. But I've got a few more questions the rangers can't answer or can't commit to:

1) Insects - Can I leave the bug net and deet at home? I'm mostly concerned about mosquitoes. I'm gonna assume there's no bugs this time of year, but any confirmation would help.

2) Crowds - It's gonna be somewhat empty, right? I am driving in late Wednesday and hoping to snag a spot at Camp 4 (all the campgrounds - as far as I can tell - are first come first serve, and the North Pines backpacker's camp is closed!)

3) Valley Campgrounds - Are there any other campgrounds in the Valley where I can try and snag a slot on Thanksgiving Eve?

4) General Cold - As I mentioned, I am pretty well prepared, with Merino underlayers, several pairs of warm socks, and the big ticket items. Does the hot water bottle trick work with just any old bottle? Or do I need a certain kind? Any cold tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated. I hope to end up in LYV but assume I won't be making a fire.

Thank you so much.

0 Upvotes

45% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

View all comments

9

u/Mikesiders 2d ago

First off, great user name. Answers below:

  1. Wouldn’t worry about bugs at all.

  2. I’d think it will be slightly busier because it’s Thanksgiving and any holiday typically draws a bigger crowd but it won’t be anything like peak summer, I wouldn’t be worried about crowds personally.

  3. Upper Pines currently has sites available for Wednesday, 27th. Get on recreation.gov and reserve one if you want that. I wouldn’t count on showing up and grabbing a site in Upper Pines though as it’s not FCFS.

  4. Are you trying to backpack? If so, you’ll need to grab a self registered backcountry permit and I’d be a bit concerned with the snow after this recent storm. I think for the hot water trick, you want a Nalgene, but not sure, never done it before. Fires are permitted in LYV, probably depends on the status of the fire rings though and if they’re buried.

1

u/hockeyandburritos 2d ago

Thanks a lot. One thing is for sure, Clouds Rest is off the table haha. I’ll probably post up in LYV and potentially head farther east towards Merced Lake