National park tips: Your secret weapon when booking a spot in Yosemite

At Yosemite National Park, if you can’t get the lodging or camping spot you want in the valley, look into the Redwoods in Yosemite, a collection of rentable privately owned vacation cabins near the Big Trees Lodge (the former Wawona Hotel), about 45 minutes from the valley.

There are about 130 cabins, from rustic studios to six-bedroom log palaces, with price ranges to match.

And remember, the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias near Wawona is scheduled to reopen in summer after a two-year closure.

In honor of this year’s National Park Service centennial, the Travel section is posting 100 park travel ideas and tips based on trips staff travel writer Christopher Reynolds has taken, along with photo-op advice from Times photographer Mark Boster. We’ll post one per day through Dec. 31.

Follow Reynolds on Twitter: @MrCSReynolds

See travel videos by Reynolds from around the world.