The camps worked beautifully! I loved having a wonderful dinner and breakfast made for me each day, with the optional lunch ready for me to pick up each morning. The tents were just fine and made it so much easier to hike knowing I didn't have to carry my tent or set up/take down each day. Staff was friendly and resourceful. Went to each of the camps and found each one to be just what we needed.

I entered the lottery in November and was successful in getting 4 places for a 5 day/4 night guided hike in August. After many years of unsuccessful lottery applications, I think it helped that I was flexible in dates (I gave them a 2 week window) and I included the option of the Ranger Guided hike. The 5 day Guided hikes are somewhat easy to get, the 7 days sell out more quickly. You only pay a small premium to have the guided trip.
Our expereince was wonderful, Jana was a fantastic Ranger guide, and we got along very well with the other 6 people on our trip.
First night was Vogelsang, then down to Merced Lake, with a lay over night, then up to Sunrise camp and then out to Tuolumie Meadows.
I'm a regular hiker, but the circuit was a bit challenging, the heat and rocks and elevation gain and losses make it somewhat challenging, but the comfort of the tent camps makes it all worth it. YOu need to bring a sleep sheet, and your personal gear, so you'll end up carrying a pack around 20 lbs, which is much better than a 30 + pack. Vogelsand and Sunrise camps have wood stoves in the tents, making them toasty warm, and Merced is low enough to be warm.
The food was very good considering it comes in by pack mule, and is plentiful and healthy.

Dear DNC Customer Service,

My husband and I walked into Merced High Sierra Camp in Yosemite NP during a lighting, hail and rain storm this last July 30 - we later heard it was the storm of the decade. As holiday hikers we weren’t planning on being a part of that sort of excitement.

Your staff was amazing. Brady(?) couldn’t have been more gracious, transforming a miserable experience into a warm and happy memory for us and many others.

As you can imagine, wet leads to cold. Your staff got large amounts of hot water for tea and hot chocolate out for all, they stoked the fire in the mess tent and went out to find those stranded by high water and bad weather. There were quite a few guests who needed to be wrapped in blankets and set in front of the fire upon arrival.

At one point the whole camp was flooded with a fast moving stream of hail, water and debris. The staff had prepped a few of the tented camps for guests at this point, but the storm flooded all. As soon as the rain stopped, your crew cleaned each tent out.

Your chef made an unbelievably delicious dinner that night (steak), and a great breakfast the next day. All of which we enjoyed thoroughly.

We can’t thank you enough for the gracious hospitality we received. If your camp had not had the hard working, diligent crew it has, there would have been a lot of stranded, miserable, hypothermic guests.

Thank you for providing us with a chance to enjoy your terrific staff and a beautiful part of America.

There are no en-suite baths, no electricity, no WiFi, no heat, and you have to walk several miles to the next camp. By putting up with these conditions you get to see some wonderfully beautiful scenery -- lakes, mountains, forests, wildlife, etc. You do not need to carry your food or bedding -- each camp has tents for sleeping and a small staff to prepare fabulous meals. For us it was an experience of a lifetime just to see such wonderful sights and be so close to nature.