CA. 120 Yosemite Tioga Pass Update (with photo)

[MEXICOWANDERER]

This is what it looks like up there. CalTrans reports the Tioga Pass road will not open "Until Sometime In July"

Many hours spent atop the grade transfixed by overwhelming scenery of mountains. It's a shame that the end of the big drought means a big dent of vacation plans for many folks. The road will open but campgrounds will stay closed way up high. Looking on the bright side, it'll give the trout a needed rest.

[tdsxt51]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:

time2roll wrote:
Some day I want to drive Tioga on opening day.
This would be an awesome year to do it but not likely this time for me.

The road through the park is very narrow. CalTrans has nothing to do with the road inside the park and I wouldn't put it past the NPS to do minimum width snow clearing and perhaps not even a pullout from the park entrance to 20 miles to the west. My personal preference is very early fall. Only a small portion of the Rocky Mountains such as in Grand Teton NP can compete with the scenery. With my heart the way it is I am so glad I wallowed in afternoon and weekend trips and horse-packed more than a dozen times. Perhaps 150 days total in dunnage pack trips.

BTW For reachable Golden Trout fishing visit the Saddlebag Lake resort and grab a map. The fish are small perhaps 7-8". use salmon eggs and perch on the northeast corner of the lake*. in 1980 I limited out on opening day. Two days later the fish were eaten and only memories remain. That summer around 10PM a member of the CalTrans crew about knocked my front door down. "Robby" caught a monster golden back in the 20 lakes basin. A 23" golden is a large fish to me. Ah, those were the days.

*Ya gotta ask when you get to the resort 🙂

You ate the golden trout?!? Almost sacreligious! Kidding of course! We caught goldens somewhere high above Kernville years back, but don't remember exactly where. I do remember being able to get to the stream from the road; no major hiking. Same size, 7-8", but didn't eat them. That 23 incher must have been a monster!

[profdant139]

Mex, we have wandered over the 20 Lakes Basin, above Saddlebag, and there are several little lakes with decent trout populations. We did not see anyone fishing up there -- not sure why.

The 20 Lakes area is a lot of fun -- since the surface is mostly glaciated granite, you can scamper cross-country very easily. Just take a bearing on a mountain peak, and head out to your own private lake.

But not this year.

[Lwiddis]

"Sure wish I had taken more pictures."

RV, don't we all! But now with digital there is no excuse. Film was the limiting factor.

[rv2go]

With out planning, we left Las Vegas about 4 in the morning and made a dash across Death Valley to the Tioga Road Entrance. To our luck, the road opened that morning. June 3, 1978. Sure wish I had taken more pictures. Trying to get to the campground before dark.

[Lwiddis]

Time2roll, that would be fun!

[Lwiddis]

Coupe de Ville? Or Sedan de Ville?

[MEXICOWANDERER]

time2roll wrote:
Some day I want to drive Tioga on opening day.
This would be an awesome year to do it but not likely this time for me.

The road through the park is very narrow. CalTrans has nothing to do with the road inside the park and I wouldn't put it past the NPS to do minimum width snow clearing and perhaps not even a pullout from the park entrance to 20 miles to the west. My personal preference is very early fall. Only a small portion of the Rocky Mountains such as in Grand Teton NP can compete with the scenery. With my heart the way it is I am so glad I wallowed in afternoon and weekend trips and horse-packed more than a dozen times. Perhaps 150 days total in dunnage pack trips.

BTW For reachable Golden Trout fishing visit the Saddlebag Lake resort and grab a map. The fish are small perhaps 7-8". use salmon eggs and perch on the northeast corner of the lake*. in 1980 I limited out on opening day. Two days later the fish were eaten and only memories remain. That summer around 10PM a member of the CalTrans crew about knocked my front door down. "Robby" caught a monster golden back in the 20 lakes basin. A 23" golden is a large fish to me. Ah, those were the days.

*Ya gotta ask when you get to the resort 🙂

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Yer going to have a lot of spindrift hunkering the Eastern Sierra this summer. Crowley, Convict Lake, the June Lake Loop all the way up to Sonora Pass. I wouldn't bet a person will find a vacancy in the National Forest campground near Lee Vining, nor in the Mono county campground. The Tuolomne Meadows area in the park may not open at all. Nor the Saddlebag Lake Resort. As high as Tioga Pass is, at 9,945 ft. Saddlebag Lake is at 11,200 ft.

A bit of advice: The entire region will be rife with early morning "Black Ice" on the pavement where snow melts during the day and freezes during the night. Very dangerous as a person may not be expecting it. About 35 years ago I descended Deadman Summit sideways almost the entire length sideways in a Cadillac. All the way down the straight stretch when it was two lanes. By some miracle there was no oncoming traffic. The car occupied two lanes, first canted to port then however gracefully I tweaked the throttle and steering wheel the rear end whipped around to starboard. I felt my face go beet red. Like a freakin' flatlander 🙂

[time2roll]

Some day I want to drive Tioga on opening day.
This would be an awesome year to do it but not likely this time for me.

[Lwiddis]

Looks wide open to me! 55mph even without chains.