View Full Version : Tioga Pass Road (CA 120) Construction
There will be a significant, and long lasting construction project along the Tioga Pass Road Through September of 2015. If you're planning to use the highway during this time, the construction delays schedule will be good to know. Here's an excerpt from our local news about the project...
"Yosemite, CA — A two-year construction project is underway in Yosemite National Park that will cause up to 60-minute delays for motorists along Tioga Road. This week, crews began working on the multi-phased project, which involves making improvements to the Tuolumne Grove Parking Lot and a 15-mile segment of Highway 120 Tioga Pass. That stretch runs from the Crane Flat intersection to just east of White Wolf. The repairs being done will include culvert drainages, road grading, pavement resurfacing, new signage, and road striping. Park officials say crews will be working in multiple locations along Tioga Road throughout the project, which is slated to end in September of 2015.
Motorists can expect flaggers and/or pilot cars directing traffic through the construction zones. Also, there will be traffic delays.
Here is the Park’s construction schedule, which runs every Sunday night at 11:00 p.m. through Friday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. with these daily delay times:
11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. 60-Minute Delays
6:00 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. 15-Minute Delays
7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. 30-Minute Delays
3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. 15-Minute Delays
4:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. 30-Minute Delays
There will be no work on weekends or holidays. In addition, the Tuolumne Grove Parking Lot will be closed for three weeks in October of this year. There will be access to campgrounds and other visitor services along Highway 120 Tioga Pass."
You can also keep abreast of Yosemite NP road conditions on the Yosemite web site.
--P
Kevin Crisp
3-Jun-2014, 15:07
I can think of worse places to be delayed.
Drew Wiley
3-Jun-2014, 15:10
Thanks. Looks like weekends will be the best time to slip thru.
I can't think of better places to be delayed. (Sorry, Kevin :o)
Drew Wiley
3-Jun-2014, 16:14
I can't think of being delayed. Not pleasant anywhere, esp behind about 200 other cars, motorhomes, and tour buses. There are two curses to mountain travel :
the mosquito and the motorhome. Now add another one. But it's inevitable somewhere every summer. Last year it was a horrendous delay on Hwy 395 near Lundy Canyon. But the roads take a lot of punishment, and somebody has to fix them during a relatively short work season. Of course, ROL would just jog the whole route between Tioga Pass and Donner Pass, and pass everyone up. ... after, of course, that twenty-eight buck elk burger at the Mobile Station in Lee Vining (don't ask
me what one tastes like - I can't afford it! I gotta buy film).
I can't think of being delayed. Not pleasant anywhere, esp behind about 200 other cars, motorhomes, and tour buses. There are two curses to mountain travel :
the mosquito and the motorhome. Now add another one. But it's inevitable somewhere every summer. Last year it was a horrendous delay on Hwy 395 near Lundy Canyon. But the roads take a lot of punishment, and somebody has to fix them during a relatively short work season. Of course, ROL would just jog the whole route between Tioga Pass and Donner Pass, and pass everyone up. ... after, of course, that twenty-eight buck elk burger at the Mobile Station in Lee Vining (don't ask
me what one tastes like - I can't afford it! I gotta buy film).
What a Debbie Downer! That's a lot of ignorant, malicious supposition. I don't jog, I RUN (though arthritically, these days)! Never had the elk burger, but I have split the buffalo meatloaf with my wife on several occasions. At least I buy my wife dinner once and awhile. Now, to go sell another print so that I can afford another date this summer...
Leszek Vogt
3-Jun-2014, 22:26
I'm all for the road upgrade....so long they install heat elements in the roadway....so the Rte 120 is open year around. One can hope, eh ?
Les
I'm all for the road upgrade....so long they install heat elements in the roadway....so the Rte 120 is open year around. One can hope, eh ?
Les
The Tioga corridor is designated backcountry wilderness in the winter. As a damned "go hike to hell" tree–hugger in the nascent environmental movement of they 60s & 70s, I helped sustain a decades long fight to deny a powerful local congressman (BF Fisk) and vested Eastern Sierra interests from developing an all–weather highway immediately south of Yosemite along the San Joaquin River corridor, leaving the wildest Sierra Nevada unbreached wilderness for a longer stretch than anything in the lower 48. I suppose its construction would have been a dream for you tailgate pixmen.
One cannot hope for more, unspoiled, wild places, only protect those that remain.There are reasons to love the Sierra (and California) for what it is, and most places are not. To paraphrase a maxim, if you can't stand the cold, stay out of the backcountry.
Clearing Winter Storm, Half Dome
http://www.rangeoflightphotography.com/albums/Yosemite-Winter/Clearing%20Winter%20Storm%2C%20Half%20Dome.jpg
Drew Wiley
4-Jun-2014, 09:42
Yes. ... I remember that road squabble well, since we lived right on the edge of the San Joaquin canyon. I don't know if that would have been a realistic all-weather
route to begin with. But back then it was an issue of protecting this corridor, along with what is now the Kaiser wilderness at the lower end, on the opposite side of
the canyon. (I have spent many a May morning atop the summit of Kaiser Peak, watching the sun rise over the second deepest canyon in North America - the canyon is twice as deep below Kaiser Ridge as the Grand Canyon), and then of course, the fight over Mineral King, an incredible jewel that Disney had plans to develop into a titanic ski resort. So yes... my trail-running friend... that activity does place you somewhere on my hero list. ... We hillbillys on the other hand...
well, we were more apt have used George Washington Hayduke as our model for how to deal with unwanted backcountry roadbuilders.
Drew Wiley
4-Jun-2014, 10:24
And yes, I do apologize for using the word "jog". But I kinda reserve the word "running" for back in those days when people traversing the Sierra had a distinct incentive to run... with grizzlies bears or whatever on their tail..... i.e., "nontrail running", which was a sport developed at least fifteen thousand years ago, when
grizzles themselves had reason to avoid far bigger critters. I had to settle for simply being treed by range bulls .... but that was cheap thrills enough. Now I no longer jog or run. I merely plod. If had had an official cowboy hat, it might be called a mosey, or perhaps a saunter if it were into an elk burger joint... but cowboy
hats fall off when you've got a huge backpack right behind them, so I've neglected that part of the large format fashion statement, along with the beard. But I do have an original Kelty Glendale pack, and hopefully will turn another ash handle for my old ice axe one of these days.
The Tioga corridor is designated backcountry wilderness in the winter...
As it the Glacier Point road past the ski area (as your photo probably illustrates). One of the nicest backpack trips I have taken in Yosemite was from the Wawona Tunnel to Glacier Point and down the Four-Mile Trail. It was over the Memorial Day Weekend and one could see bumber-to-bumper traffic down in the Valley as my friend and I hiked all by our lonesomes along the rim of the Valley. Camping on top of Sentinel Dome with Yosemite Falls booming across the Valley was wonderful, and a nice sound to fall asleep with.
Shown before, but from that trip: "Mistaking the Map for the Territory", from the top of Sentinel Dome. 16x20 print from 4x5 neg (150mm lens, TMax100).
Indeed. I hiked the Pohono Trail when I was eight with the Sierra Club – skied many times since. Its relative easy accessibility is belied by a very under utilized status. I do remember a bird's eye view of the "troop movements" from GP during the Stoneman Meadow Riots in '69(?). OK, we've all established our ancientness at this point. :rolleyes:
Pohono (one translation of which is 'blast of wind', for Bridalveil Falls and synonymous with my many posts here :D) remains for me, one of the most evocative native words, of many, endemic to Yosemite.
(BF Fisk)
Correction: Sisk
…just gotta turn off that automatic spell check!
Drew Wiley
4-Jun-2014, 12:20
Yeah... Fiske was the well-known photographer, Sisk the politician. I suspect that some of the place names were not in fact authentic in terms of the resident
aboriginal population, but casually Anglo borrowed from dialects in the vicinity, which all got muddled up in that part of the hills after the Gold Rush began, with its
outright non-systematic but nevertheless effective version of genocide. For example, the Ahwahneechee were the Miwok people resident in the Valley, for which
the Ahwahnee Hotel is named, while the actual town of Ahwahnee is way to the south near Oakhurst, in what was basically Monache territory - a group of peoples
of Pauite extraction, presumably from the Mono Lake area. Specific tribal dialects varied almost from village to village. The last authentic Miwok from that area I knew was also the oldest man I ever met, believed to have been 122 when he died, and it was really an ordeal getting a bucket brigade of old Indians together who could patch together some sort of translation to his otherwise completely lost dialect. He was indeed the last, but had grown into a middle aged man in that
part of the world before he ever encountered a white man. But a good job was done recording some of the beautiful folklore from Yosemite Valley, in which many
of its grand rock features were anthropomorphized into myths roles, at least until the "trickster", appropriately a coyote, ruined the original harmony on earth.
No, Drew – my spell checker was evidently thinking of Fisk Tires (http://chuquicamata.net/Fisk_Tires/FiskCollection/FiskBoy/FiskCollection.html). Apparently, it is even more tired than I.
Drew Wiley
5-Jun-2014, 08:55
Oh gosh... I thought I was the one getting senile even faster than my outdated software here. My Mac at home has spell check, but my office PC has numerical
cross-checking instead, and does an excellent job catching the inevitable typos from my arthritic fingers on my endless buying reports and purchase orders. By
otherwise, it can't spell at all. No free ride. My spring-loaded trekking poles do an excellent job preserving my knees; but then all that shock goes into my sensitive
hands. ... Anyway, at one point I thought the next big battle on the San Joaquin might be to preserve the last section of low canyon true wilderness in the state,
since it's got a bulls eye on for a titanic pork barrel dam (actually, a giant hot-weather evaporation pit, which would flood three entire "green" extant hydroelectric
power plants). But that was the last governor's big ego "legacy" idea; and I don't think the taxpayers will want to shell out the tens of billions of dollars to capture
runoff that isn't even there some years, just to leave the next pond down the line dry (Millerton). The sad thing is that there's only a handful of people alive who
have ever entered that canyon; and most of them are now whitewater types. But backpacking that thing with large format is a bit dicey for me at my age. The
legendary full-length San Joaquin trail never transpired. A tiny section was completed between Redinger Lk and Mammoth Pool. But nobody uses it (too damn hot).
And a bit was put in place between Squaw Leap and downstream to Millerton, which is popular. But all the country upriver is horrendously steep, but stunningly
beautiful in the Spring. ... Then there was that crazy coot who decided to build a tran-sierra crossing above Olancha, and made it just as far as Kennedy Mdws,
what is currently the paved road into the Cottonwood Lks trailhead. ... I don't think truckers would have gained any time advantage taking an extremely winding
shortcut over avalanche-prone Mammoth Pass and clear down the San Joaquin, versus the far easier terrain up at Donner, or around the Grapevine. But that was
still the era of titantic "tame nature" pork barrel projects, and would have broken my heart, since I spent a lot of time on the quiet side of the Ritter Range, which
thankfully, still offers an abundance of solitude.
I just came across CA120 on May 19th. Spent the night at Mammoth Lakes. Fortunately, we had not planned to cross back, (drove south on US395) since it snowed overnight and the road was closed on the 20th! CA120 could definitely use some maintenance. It'll all be better when they finish. :)
Oh gosh... I thought I was the one getting senile even faster than my outdated software here. My Mac at home has spell check, but my office PC has numerical
cross-checking instead, and does an excellent job catching the inevitable typos from my arthritic fingers on my endless buying reports and purchase orders. By
otherwise, it can't spell at all. No free ride. My spring-loaded trekking poles do an excellent job preserving my knees; but then all that shock goes into my sensitive
hands. ... Anyway, at one point I thought the next big battle on the San Joaquin might be to preserve the last section of low canyon true wilderness in the state,
since it's got a bulls eye on for a titanic pork barrel dam (actually, a giant hot-weather evaporation pit, which would flood three entire "green" extant hydroelectric
power plants). But that was the last governor's big ego "legacy" idea; and I don't think the taxpayers will want to shell out the tens of billions of dollars to capture
runoff that isn't even there some years, just to leave the next pond down the line dry (Millerton). The sad thing is that there's only a handful of people alive who
have ever entered that canyon; and most of them are now whitewater types. But backpacking that thing with large format is a bit dicey for me at my age. The
legendary full-length San Joaquin trail never transpired. A tiny section was completed between Redinger Lk and Mammoth Pool. But nobody uses it (too damn hot).
And a bit was put in place between Squaw Leap and downstream to Millerton, which is popular. But all the country upriver is horrendously steep, but stunningly
beautiful in the Spring.
You've got to stop hitting that carriage return arm on the PC!
My Mac spell checker is always automatically completing words it thinks (incorrectly) I'm trying to spell. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I only did one season with spring loaded trekking pole tips 10 years ago, then changed to non with no looking back – less energy wasted and my joints feel better. I was one of those whitewater types in the damned San Joaquin (between dams). Frankly, I've been rather impressed with new generation of activists in the Central Valley linking the SJ River Trail, setting up urban river parks on the lower river ala the American in Sacramento, and setting aside foothill conservation reserves. It turns out there always has been much more to the Central Cal outdoors than just the finest part of the High Sierra, and likewise fine people recognizing the necessity to save it.
Drew Wiley
6-Jun-2014, 08:53
Virtually nothing of the lower hills has been formally preserved except a few patches acquired by the Nature Conservancy. The only thing protecting the big chunk
of BLM land mid-river is its sheer inaccessibility, combined with some very cantankerous ranchers on the perimeter. So in effect, the land it there, but landlocked
unless you either edge your way for miles along the cliffs, or whitewater thru. Therefore nobody really understands what there, and it has become fair game for
flooding. But the public doesn't seem to be in much of a mood to spend close to a trillion dollars for a giant pond which would just give developers an excuse to put
up dozens of new golf courses, and we'd all end up with less water in the long run. Then the utility companies would not only have to be reimbursed for the cost of
their multi-billion-dollar infrastructure which gets flooded - the previous dam, tunnels, and hydroelectric plants - but year after year their lost power-generation
revenue too. If that weren't the case, I'd probably be looking up some of those cantankerous ranchers I grew up with, and enlisting some younger types to heft
the drinking water, while I still am capable of doing large format documentary work in that canyon. But it's a helluva lot more strenuous terrain than most of the
high country, esp due to the heat. I used to work out on those steep hills in the lower Kings as well as the San Joaquin every Spring, but that was when I still had a house nearby. But I have managed to find a few agreeably steep slopes around here, on Mt Diablo, Tam, etc. Will wimp out tomorrow, however, and probably
just opt from something in the Marin Headlands, since the forecast is rather warm overall. But at least hauling the Ries and an 8x10 around guarantees a good workout. Two weeks till I hit the high country again and do my part for Mother Nature by feeding the mosquitoes.
Drew Wiley
6-Jun-2014, 09:35
(Still rambling, ROL...)... The death of the San Joaquin and its significant salmon run was more arbitrary than most people relaize. My dad was a key inspector at the beginning of the Central Valley project, and he wanted to install a salmon ladder adjacent to Millerton Dam just like in the Northwest. But the head engineer dismissed the idea with the remark, "Nobody is going to drive way out here just to go fishing". That's how things were done back then. The idea of an environmental impact report was simply nonexistent, even on what was at that moment the largest engineering project on earth. More recently, my sister had a seat on the planning commission, and laws were indeed passed to protect access to what's left of the river below the dam, but all it ever takes is a simple developer bribe to get an exclusion. That's always been the case. And only a massive FBI sting stopped total development of both sides of the River. But you've
probably already heard all that.
goamules
7-Jun-2014, 16:51
Just got some reservations at Tuolumne Meadows campground for 10 days from now! We'll try that one with The Big Avacoado camper.
I have a friend who owns an old VW van that's about the same color as your Big Avacado. He calls it the Flying Pickle. Great names for both!
You were real lucky to find a site up there this time of the season. Have a good time!
--P
John Kasaian
7-Jun-2014, 22:34
I've got to get up there. Soon.
Kodachrome25
7-Jun-2014, 23:00
I got snowed out from the Eastern side on May 20th, fortunately, that was the side to get stuck on due to amazing atmospherics for a few days at Mono and everywhere else. I got to the closure gate about 10 minutes after they opened it and had a good time shooting the spring snow scene at Ellery Lake.
Here is a shot that I had to kind of wait for, the spotlighting on the ice bank...
116389
Robert Langham
23-Jul-2014, 18:16
We are going to be in the Valley on the end of Sept. Hope 120 still open then, at least to Olmstead and Tenaya.
Drew Wiley
24-Jul-2014, 13:55
It all depends. The normal tradition is to close Tioga Pass and the road leading up to it pending the first major snowstorm in November. But for all practical purposes,
unless its a dry winter like the last one, this means the road tends to get shut down at the end of October. Temporary closures can occur any time of year for
brief snow flurries.
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