Few things are sweeter than a starry High Sierra summer night, or a gloaming evening with the last light fading until the pines turn dark, or the initial touch of dawn bringing the crannies and folds of this World Heritage Site’s soaring cliffs front and center. Sadly, most of the millions of visitors to Yosemite National Park each year miss these moments because they’re holed up in a hotel, walled off from the touches of natural grandeur.

John Muir and Ansel Adams nobly conveyed Yosemite’s beauty in their work, but it means little until you watch the night stars yourself, appearing one by one, until their numbers crick your neck and spin your mind. With warm, dry summers, Yosemite is ideal for camping—the trick is to land a spot.

The campgrounds in the valley book up months in advance. But there are great options outside the main valley floor that are easier to book and have charms of their own. In a lodgepole-pine forest way up at 8,000 feet, the White Wolf campground is a taste of the Yosemite high country without the drudgery of backpacking.

Inside Tip: Try for sites 28, 22, or 23—the largest and most private. You can score good food (breakfast, box lunches, and dinner) at the nearby White Wolf Lodge .

Porcupine Flat is handy on busy weekends; situated 38 miles from Yosemite Valley, it’s often the last campground to fill up. Plus, it’s a great launching spot for exploring the high country. Yosemite Creek delivers the most seclusion of any car campground in the park, though it comes at the price of a nearly 5-mile drive off the highway.

Inside Tip: All three campgrounds are first come, first served; show up at the 10 a.m. checkout time when the other campers are leaving, and you’ll have the best chance for your pick of the sites.