BLM Land near Yosemite National Park

BLM Land Near Yosemite National Park

Most of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land near Yosemite National Park is located on the east and west sides of the Park. The BLM manages public lands that offer all kinds of recreational opportunities, including free, dispersed camping. 

Camping Near Yosemite

When camping near Yosemite National Park, you have three choices:

1. Reserving a Campsite

There are several campsites located inside the park itself and just outside the park. The campsites within the park are much harder to reserve, especially on short notice. We recommend you explore Yosemite’s National Park’s reservable campgrounds on the Recreation.gov website.

• Merced River Recreation Management Area
• North Fork Primitive Camp
• McCabe Flat Campground

2. Dispersed camping in nearby National Forest

Dispersed camping, also known as boondocking and dry camping, may only be available at designated sites, not just any flat spot you find. Each national forest website (such as Stansilaus, Sierra, and Ansel Adams Wilderness) lists areas with pre-established dispersed sites.

3. Dispersed camping in BLM Land

Camping is allowed on lots of BLM land, whether in established campgrounds or through dispersed camping. BLM-managed campgrounds often include restrooms, potable water, electrical hookups, picnic areas, garbage cans, tent pads, and group shelters. These campgrounds nearly always require nightly fees and/or advance permits. 

If you are looking for established BLM campgrounds, BLM.gov hosts an interactive map showing all its campgrounds. We also have our interactive map below.

Dispersed camping is free and available for most BLM-managed public lands as it does not conflict with other authorized uses or in areas posted “closed to camping.” Dispersed camping is limited to 14 days within a 28 consecutive-day period. Camping limitations can vary greatly by local office, so always check in advance with a field office. Finding dispersed camping areas are located along most secondary roads and may not be marked. The most popular locations are evident as flat disturbed areas that have been used as a campsite before, but not all flat sites are campsites. It’s a best practice to use a previously established camping area instead of creating a new disturbance. 

View BLM Land Maps in the field with the following onX Products:

BLM Area Breakdown

Explore this interactive map below to see the areas outside the park that have the highest concentration of BLM Land

onX Guide to BLM Land Near Yosemite

Whether you’re looking for established campgrounds or areas that are available for dispersed camping near Yosemite, your best resource by far is using one of our onX apps to evaluate the area. In all of our apps, you can find current information about public and private land ownership, weather, road conditions, and restrictions (including widths and open/closed dates). And in our onX Backcountry and onX Offroad Apps you can find nearby hiking, biking, and off-roading trails for the region. In all onX apps, BLM public lands are designated by yellow shading.

To get a first-person perspective, we asked some of our experts here at onX for tips and tricks for navigating BLM land near Yosemite National Park.

• While there are sizable swaths of BLM land on the eastern side of Yosemite, BLM land that offers camping near Yosemite is very limited. It’s best to reserve an established campground through the above-mentioned Recreation.gov website and then expect at least a one hour-plus drive into the Park each way daily. This is true for both reserved and free, dispersed campsites you may find.
• There tends to be more established camping in the Eastern Sierras, but not necessarily on BLM lands. There are campgrounds on National Forest lands on the eastern side of Yosemite National Park but most or all require advanced reservations. Some campgrounds worth looking into include Goat Meadow, Hardin Flat Road, and Diamond Gulch.
• There is no dispersed camping inside or directly adjacent to Yosemite. There are, however, a few spots within an hour’s drive of the Park.

Resources for finding BLM Land

Whether you’re planning a hiking trip, a camping weekend, e-scouting hunting locations, or just looking for a day out in nature, onX Maps is the ultimate resource for BLM land. See our interactive BLM land map where you can search for BLM land near you at onxmaps.com. You can also find BLM land in the following apps:

• onX Hunt – Our most popular app that can also show you the hunting regulations for the surrounding areas and dozens of other layers.
• onX Offroad – In addition to showing you public lands, our Offroad app can also show you all the Offroad trails nearby for your SxS, 4×4, ATV, dirt bike, and snowmobile.
• onX Backcountry – Jam packed with other helpful trail data including several activity modes for Hiking, Backpacking, Climbing, Mountain Biking, and Backcountry Skiing.

Other great resources for BLM land are:

• Recreation.gov – Great for making reservations at busy campsites
• BLM.gov – A simple interactive map that shows BLM Land at a very basic level