In May 1903 John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt slipped away from the official tour and camped alone in Yosemite for three nights. What they decided around those fires still shapes every acre of public land you plan a trip on.
Nearly. Roosevelt left the official party at Wawona and travelled with Muir, a packer, and a small cook and escort detail, but the press corps and the state officials were deliberately left behind. The three camps were genuinely rough: blankets on the ground, no tent, and snow on the first morning in the Mariposa Grove.
No. Yosemite became a national park in 1890. The valley floor and Mariposa Grove were separately held by California under the 1864 Yosemite Grant. The trip is credited with pushing the 1905 recession and the 1906 federal act that reunited the valley with the park around it.
Not at the actual sites. Mariposa Grove and Bridalveil Meadow are day-use only, and backcountry camping near Sentinel Dome is restricted by the Glacier Point Road corridor rules. You can visit all three by day and camp in a valley or Wawona campground, or on national forest land outside the park.
Late May through October, when Glacier Point Road is open. Late September and early October are the quietest, with reliable weather and no reservation pressure in most years. The Mariposa Grove and the valley floor are reachable year round when roads are clear.
Yes. A small bronze plaque near the meadow commemorates the 17 May 1903 camp. It is easy to walk past, and there is no visitor centre or interpretive complex attached to it.
