Cherry Valley Campground

Last stayed here 5/19. Cherry Valley is the name of the campground situated near Cherry Lake. The Cherry Lake road off of HW 120 (maybe 15-20 west of the Yosemite entrance) is a hell of a ride, Narrow and windy, lots of blind curves. Take it easy and watch out. The campground is very nice, set not far from the lake (~1/4mile as the crow flies). There are hiking/backpacking trails nearby, decent fishing for trout on the lake, and of course a day trip to Yosemite is very reasonable. I've been to this campground about 5x total, and never seen it crowded. It's mostly cheaper, way more available, and generally a better camping experience than any campground in Yosemite. The whole forested area around the lake burned over the past few years. It's making an amazing comeback, and folks who are into checking out native trees and shrubs will find it very interesting.
The campground has very few poor sites, and a lot of the nicer sites cannot be reserved on line. I appreciate that. -D

Nice little campground. Both roads in are mountain roads, but the southern route near Mather is very narrow, windy, and lots of elevation change. From Tuolumne the road is quite good. It's at least an hour from towns either way.

Many of the campsites are very spacious. We stayed at the one closest to the entrance, which wasn't the first choice, but turned out to be great. There was only one other campsite really in view and they were ~50+ feet away. Other places in the campground have much more overlap. A few sites (#33 and #32 I believe) have views of the lake.

Easy ~15 minute hike/scramble to a waterfall and rope swing at the lake from site #10.

There's a lot of pit toilets - they're everywhere - and it's hard to find a site that is close but not too close to a toilet or the potential wafting of the smell. This would be the only down side that I remember from the campground, and it was fine. The restrooms were spotlessly cared for.

Water available every few sites.

Camp host was very friendly.

Federal ID/America the Beautiful pass gets you half off.

Very clean. Nice pit toilets and firewood. We could not figure out how to access the lake from the campground. It’s more of a boating than swimming lake. Although the water was crystal clear. Limited water but it was available. Despite signs being posted everywhere requiring masks when going to bathrooms and water pumps we continually saw people who chose not to follow those rules. The hosts were working to keep up but with all the people there was a lot to do.
Also the road is tough getting there. And beware cattle in the middle of the road in blind turns!