SKIMMING ACROSS THE SIERRA, as in the top of the Sierra Nevada, or at least near the tippy-top peaks, in the wintertime? Well, you can do so in your daydreams, perhaps, or if you're a bird, a high flyer doesn't mind cold temperatures, or if you're in a plane, but then you're way above the land below. The short of it is this: There's always a prodigious amount of snow around those tippy-top peaks, from November-ish into the middle of spring, or even beyond. And Tioga Road, which provides adventurers a picturesque route from the Eastern Sierra into Yosemite National Park, and indeed, on into Groveland and the Gold Country area in the western foothills of the Sierra, closes to through traffic. Which means if you're kicking around Bodie, or Mammoth Mountain, or Mono County, and you wish to hop-skip-jump over to Gold Country, you're going to be taking the long route in wintertime, and not Highway 120 through the meadows and upper reaches of Yosemite National Park. But no more back story, and no more run-up, for the excitement is palpable:
TIOGA ROAD THROUGH THE PARK... will open for the summer on Monday, May 21 at 9 in the morning, hurrah. Yep, this is far earlier than the spring of 2017, when Tioga didn't open before late June (so, yeah, it actually opened in early summer). But then, as you likely observed, there was far less snow over the winter of 2017-2018, compared to the winter before. Even so, you know the people who remove the snow over several busy spring weeks, plowing, plowing, plowing, work incredibly hard, and we do heartily applaud their incredible efforts. Ready to traipse through this stunning area, camping, hiking, Mono-Lake-ing, Half-Dome-ing, and having a grand old time? Traipse away, as of May 21. And if you're curious about past open/close dates of the pass, click here. It'll shutter again, around the middle of fall, most likely, so dally not, Sierra-obsessed, Tioga-traveling people.
