Traveling from west side of yosemite to lake tahoe class A motorhome with trailer. Best route hopefully without a lot of steep grades and curves. Stresses wife out.

Do not make the DW drive.:B We did 49 and 88 last summer but I like curvy roads. Although it's 75 miles further, going all the way west to I-5 and then 50 it's only 30 minutes longer.

An easy route would be to take 120, 99, 50BTW, Yosemite + Lake Tahoe = steep grades + sharp curves. :)

Not sure exactly where you are in Tahoe. If you're at south shore take 50 to the west. It is a two lane road for most of the way, then turns to 4 lanes. It does have some turns etc, but not bad. If you would rather have a better 4 lane hiway, travel to the north side and take hiway 80 west. Both 50 and 80 will take you to Sacramento where you can merge onto hiway 99. Take 99 south to Merced, then hiway 140 east that will take you into the valley at Yosemite.You could also take hiway 120 in Manteca (which is off hiway 99 about 60 miles south of Sacramento) however this road to Yosemite does have a stretch of very windy and somewhat steep area called Priest Grade which is just prior to Groveland. They've also had some road closure on 120 due to slides etc, so if you elect to go this route, I would check with the Hiway Patrol or Cal Trans. Both 120 and 140 are main roads to Yosemite. Overall, I'd say 140 is the better road. When you leave Mariposa you'll drop down into a canyon, the road is wide two lane with some curves, but not bad at all, buses, RV's, trucks etc drive it daily, this route is the main entrance to Yosemite. Once in the canyon the road follows the Merced River into Yosemite, very pretty drive. There is one stretch of one lane traffic with a one lane bridge (controlled by signal lights) due to a slide several years ago, that they've never repaired yet. Again, large vehicles travel it daily. This is the route I would recommend for you. Another route, but I don't think you'd want to do it, 50 west from Tahoe to hiway 49 south. 49 takes you through the gold rush country of California, but it has some curvy areas and some of it it very narrow. It does intersect 120 shich leads to Yosemite or travel further south on 49 and it will intersect 140 the main road to Yosemite.I just read your posting again, I see you're going from Yosemite to Tahoe, just reverse my directions and it will work for you. Sorry, I thought you were going the opposite direction. LOL So your route would be 140 west from Yosemite to 99 the north to Sacramento and take 50 or 80 east to Tahoe.

Stay west and go up 99 to at least 50 and probably I80 to Tahoe.Stay off the highway that goes around the West side of Tahoe.

You don't say when you are traveling. From the west the fastest, easiest route is 120 over Tioga pass to 395 and head north to 50 and head west into Lake Tahoe. We went that way a couple of years back and it was a very nice trip. You can't get around the twisty turns like others have said. Just, of course, don't ride your brakes all the way down 120. Take it slow, use the lower gears as well as the turnouts to let others pass. From the junction of 120 and 395, Tahoe is only around 100 miles. This would only work when the snow is cleared from 120 over Tioga pass which should happen in June sometime.

yosemite from west side to Tahoe. | Good Sam Community

msmith1199
Explorer II
Jun 02, 2017
grant135b wrote:
msmith1199 wrote:
I hope you were going east or you didn't get to Mono Lake from Yosemite!

Brain cramp! Corrected. :)

Actually it was my error. You can get to Mono Lake from Yosemite by going West, it's just that it's a 25,000 mile drive if you go that way! :)
grant135b
Explorer
Jun 02, 2017
msmith1199 wrote:
I hope you were going east or you didn't get to Mono Lake from Yosemite!

Brain cramp! Corrected. :)
msmith1199
Explorer II
May 31, 2017
grant135b wrote:
There were times on that trip when I wished we had the MH with us and other moments when it crossed my mind that I was glad I was driving the pocket rocket rather than the MH/toad combo, and going west on 120 from Yosemite to Mono Lake and Bodie was one of those times. :)

I hope you were going east or you didn't get to Mono Lake from Yosemite! I've done that route quite a few times in my DP with toad and it's not that bad, but then again I live in California. I used to wonder why people on here seemed so afraid of some of the mountain roads out here, then I was in South Carolina one time looking around and it dawned on me, many people in the USA have never driven on a mountain road with a 2000 foot drop off just 8 feet away on one side! When I started thinking about it that way, then I realized why some people could be nervous on the mountain passes. I've been driving on them all my life so it came easy to me when driving the motorhome on them.
grant135b
Explorer
May 31, 2017
Several summers ago my family and I did a tour of western NPs in our gas class A with a toad. We did a lot of mountain driving on that trip with no big issues, but we didn't go to Yosemite. Then a couple of summers ago my 15 y.o. son and I did a 7,500 mile, month-long hiking and tent camping tour of the West which included Yosemite. Since it was just the two of us we left the apartment-on-wheels at home and tent camped out of the back of our zippy hatchback (40 mpg). There were times on that trip when I wished we had the MH with us and other moments when it crossed my mind that I was glad I was driving the pocket rocket rather than the MH/toad combo, and going east on 120 from Yosemite to Mono Lake and Bodie was one of those times. :)
msmith1199
Explorer II
May 28, 2017
I figured that's what you meant, but the way you wrote it looked like you were saying 120 was closed so you have to go use 140.
supercub
Explorer
May 28, 2017
msmith1199 wrote:
supercub wrote:
120, is still closed and they don't have an expected date to open it yet. Probably still a few weeks away before it's open. It's probably the shortest route, but if you want to avoid curves and steep roads, I would elect to go 140 west to 99, then north to Sacramento to 50 or 80 to Tahoe.

As I stated above, and I just checked again to confirm this, Highway 120 out the West side of the park is not closed. Only Tioga Pass is closed. There is construction on the road and there is a temporary night time closure planned in June, but right now it's open.

When I said 120, I meant 120 Tioga Pass. I didn't mean 120 going to the west back to 99. Yes that portion was closed due to a road slide, but is open now to one way traffic, last report I saw a couple days ago. However, per the Sonora Paper, Tioga Pass, which is 120 is still closed with no expected opening date. :)
MrWizard
Moderator
May 27, 2017
I haven't been to Yosemite, since the last trip from with my camper van, when we stayed at Bass Lake, 25 yrs ago

So I don't remember which is the easier route to drive
But With my current DP , driving the easier route would be more important to me than the extra miles and fuel

Each of us has different priorities
msmith1199
Explorer II
May 27, 2017
I posted the miles above. 28 extra miles to take 140 versus 120 from the Valley. For me that would be almost 4 gallons of diesel at California prices is about $12 bucks. But that's why I would take 120 to 49 to 88 to 89.
MrWizard
Moderator
May 27, 2017
120 going west or 140 going west
Makes little difference
You are still going to go west to 99 then North before going east

If you are in Yosemite Valley then 120 is closer than 140
Since that is usually booked solid many months in advance, and you are either someplace else in the park, or outside the park
140 might be closer
It's really not critical
msmith1199
Explorer II
May 27, 2017
supercub wrote:
120, is still closed and they don't have an expected date to open it yet. Probably still a few weeks away before it's open. It's probably the shortest route, but if you want to avoid curves and steep roads, I would elect to go 140 west to 99, then north to Sacramento to 50 or 80 to Tahoe.

As I stated above, and I just checked again to confirm this, Highway 120 out the West side of the park is not closed. Only Tioga Pass is closed. There is construction on the road and there is a temporary night time closure planned in June, but right now it's open.

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