Best Dispersed Camping near Hensley Lake

First Dispersed camp site, arrived at 10pm and had no problem finding a camp site. It’s super dark so arriving early would hand been best. Great experience. Were several others camped out as well. Will stay again.

Road getting there is pretty scary at night, but it’s super close to the park. There’s a parking lot to the left for rvs/vans and a dirt path that opens into an area for tents or any dispersed camping. We stayed in tents, there’s plenty of room to find a tent spot

No cell service

As previously mentioned, these coordinates are not correct, if you travel beyond the coordinates towards the South Park Entrance and pass the Springdale Campground on your left, you will see a sign shortly afterwards that says SnowPlay area 1/2 mile and that’s where you will turn onto Mount Raymond Road, which takes you to the dispersed camping about 5 minutes from the park entrance. Plenty of spots available.

Note: drove to “end of Mt Raymond Rd / Goat Meadow Ttailhead” following Hannah’s review as the directions. That is not the directions to this campground. It’s the directions to the Meadow campground across the 41. So, unfortunately never found this location. Leaving proper review of Meadow dispersed camping on that campground across the street so head over to that one, irs super easy to find, not busy, tons of great spots.

Stayed Saturday and Sunday. This is the most perfect dispersed camping in the area. Just a few minutes from Yosemite NP entrance. Spots are pretty obvious which is great. Some have fire pits already established by previous campers. There’s a huge pile of wood that’s great for your fire. There’s a large paved area for RVs as well. Everyone was respectful. Some arrived closer to 10pm and still found a spot. No problem with noise after 10pm.

My friend and I decided to go on a camping/road trip with no plans or reservations. Little did we know that due to COVID, Yosemite was only allowing people in the park with a printed reservation. There was no getting passed these ladies. We asked if there was dispersed camping nearby and they directed us to a street less than a mile south of the southern entrance to Yosemite. The street was Mount Raymond. There were plenty of spots to pull off and camp out and lots of space between other campers. It was quiet and a sweet deer came by as we were setting up. She wasn’t afraid of us at all, just minding her business eating away.

***Only downfall: We were in an area near trees that produced a lot of sap. It was all over our car the next morning and it stuck to the bottom of our shoes pretty bad. We took sticks and really had to dig out all the gunk. Be aware of the trees you park your car under or set your tent up near.

Stopped at Bass Lake on the way up - Great spot for day picnics (pics)

Went to the snow play area but it was full with cars so i went about a half a mile more Down the road and got to a bridge parked there then i went of trail a bit and found a nice camping spot

After accidentally driving to this location following the directions of another reviewer for the “Yosemite Boondocks” campground across 41 (which we never found) we were very happy with this location.

First, to tell you how to properly get here and find all the spots, drive to the end of the road (don’t pay attention to the gate and “off road” dirt road you see to the left before the parking lot. Don’t go there. Go to just before the big Snow Play parking lot and head right through the dirt. There is no paved road but the area is flat and any car, truck or rv/trailer can make it back here easily. I got nervous at first about ability to turnaround so I parked prematurely near the entrance. Keep going and you’ll find at least 4 or 5 big private areas separated by huge cut logs all with plenty of room to turnaround and not have to back up.

If you’re nervous, we watched several cars, vans, and trailers camp overnight in the big paved parking lot right past this, and that’s fine, but you’re in a parking lot. Come out to the right and you’re in heaven.

We were the only RV here and had it to ourselves an entire week (granted it’s early November). Can’t beat the proximity to Yosemite south entrance.

I was expecting bad conditions because of the previous comments but it was actually a good surprise. It's very close to the entrance of Yosemite, in our case it was very quiet and well isolated. There is no view or wow effect but it's great location and isolated.

It was very quite and isolated but the roads were very difficult for an rv to drive. There is also a sign “no overnight camping” but we had no problems to stay the night.

Had a lovely evening here. Camp sites are clean and free of garbage. Spread out nicely to avoid any noisy neighbors. Beautiful way to start a cross country road trip.

This is a very back in the woods setting. We didn’t stay here because when we got out of the car for a bathroom trip, a coyote was 20 feet from the car. Needless to say I almost peed myself 🤣. We went to a different site. This one is super secluded and no one else was there at all when we were there.

Update 5/16: they removed the porta potties and its packed! Spots are few and far between in the lot. We ended up in paved lot due to a tree being down and blocking any access to the dispersed woods camping. They did clear it which was good because it has even very busy here with the NP closing 2 campgrounds. The spot is beautiful and super close to south entrance of the park (like 5 mins). There are trash and porta potties at thus location. Help clean up trash from snow play users so this site stays open.

Booked a last minute permit for the Pohono trail on a recent trip and had Dewey Point as one of my camp sites! Beautiful views of el cap and the valley made for an iconic back country spot !

Great views along the John Muir trail. 24 hour Public restroom .o2miles from camp site. Near the gas station/market in Greeley Hill,CA. 30 min from Yosemite West gate. 45min to cherry lake and many fresh water rivers and waterfalls. On a road with homes, but is at the end of the road. No water or toilet available yet.

Great location, close to Yosemite Park which allows you to sleep for free. the spot was clean, impressive camper vans were present and they were parked on the tarmac. lots of pitches, vans can be placed under the trees with the tents.

Nice quiet place to camp next to Yosemite. Pretty bare bones just a trash can and port a potties but it’s free :) note that somewhere to the east of the trash can there must be a wasp nest as I woke up to quite a few around my tent but they didn’t seem too aggressive

If you are looking for a challenging hike, beautiful views, and complete seclusion...this is it. 

The landscape is rocky so you will need to be careful when setting up your tents and also be aware of any fire dangers or restrictions in the area. But there is a nearby stream for water replenishment and and easy hike down to Jennie Lake or Rowell Meadow. 

Lots of open space for star gazing at night. You will need a permit for an overnight here but camping itself is free.

I've camped at Goat Meadow twice- once in 2022 and more recently in March of 2025. Both times were fantastic. 

When you drive up to the snowplay area, continue straight off of the paved road (don't make the left) and you'll find a plethora of places to park and set up shop.  

The elevation at the site is appx 5200, meaning it will get snow in the winter(ish) months. When I was there recently, some of the 'campsites' had 0-3", whereas other spots were about 6-8".  Consequently, there were about 6-8 cars/vans that ended up camping in the parking lot of the snowplay area. I was the only one in the actual snow, which was great! I'm glad I didn't set up in the parking lot though, as around 7am, the place filled up with people sledding (as the area is intended to be used). 

Couldn't recommend this place more.  Coyotes and bears are active in the area- coyotes raided a bag I had hanging from a tree and stole my food!

Didn’t pull in until 9pm ish. But when I can in there was two ways you could have gone. To the left which was a parking lot possibly with sites(could not see) or to the right, which was a very large cleared space. I saw the remains of a few fires so I assumed I was in the right spot. Not a whole lot of trees from what I could tell. Also only about 1/4 mile from the main road that you come up on.

super accessible spot right by the entrance (10 min drive max) to yosemite np !! not sure why some of these reviews are complicated lol but just go up mount raymond road like the directions tell you to then once you get to the end i just went to the turn out on the right ! super lowkey, fire pits, and beautiful scenery 🌱

Lots of places to park a vehicle or set up a tent. Plenty of fire rings and is very close to the NP entrance. Only downside was the lack of private areas to use the bathroom, but we managed. The lead to get in wasn’t bad, and we got there after dark.

This is not public camping area. Someone's driveway. Beware!!!