Tioga Pass opens tomorrow!

[John Kasaian]

...this according to the Fresno Bee.

[BrianShaw]

Yipee! But let's not all rush there at once!

[ignatiusjk]

I was in Yosemite last week and much to my dismay Tioga was closed. Glad to hear it is open,it does me good though.

[Brad Rippe]

It looks like its only open from Crane Flat to Yosemite Creek. It's open to bikes the whole way though!

A friend of mine was in the Valley last week and said the falls were incredible, and the Dogwoods are blooming.

-Brad

[Jim Galli]

Always a concern when Tioga opens. Straight shot over the mountain to Tonopah for all the folk in central Cal. I pissed off. :p I'll bet the dogwoods are beautiful.

[John Kasaian]

Always a concern when Tioga opens. Straight shot over the mountain to Tonopah for all the folk in central Cal. I pissed off. :p I'll bet the dogwoods are beautiful.

Sorry Jim, I didn't mean to piss you off!;)

If it's any consolation I have to wait until I can replace my old old USFS green truck with a new old USFS green truck before I can get up and over there (the door fell off :eek: yesterday---metal fatigue!)

An auction is coming up on the 30th :D

[Jim Galli]

Sorry Jim, I didn't mean to piss you off!;)

If it's any consolation I have to wait until I can replace my old old USFS green truck with a new old USFS green truck before I can get up and over there (the door fell off :eek: yesterday---metal fatigue!)

An auction is coming up on the 30th

With $4 gasoline ($5 in Lee Vining?) I doubt anyone will make a special trip over to Tonopah. I can keep right on making folks mad. John, just a door. You give up so easily. Must've been one of the Dodge's. :D:D

[htswv]

I'll be there on Tuesday of next week...I hope the dogwoods are still blooming. It looks like there is still a substantial amount of snow in the higher elevations so many of the hikes (Cathedral Lakes, Elizabeth Lake) I had planned are a no go....what on earth will I photograph?!

[Turner Reich]

The most I ever paid for a gallon of gas was the station closest to Yosemite. Fuel up big time before you get there. Looks like the 14th day of price increases today. 9% from last month, 19% from last year.

I want to be in Yosemite more than ever, but how to get there and drive around. Now the oil companies are doing what's called "Green Washing".

[ljb0904]

Crikey, isn't it early yet? Did the Sierra not get a lot of snow this year? F'g global warming.

[Armin Seeholzer]

San Gotthardo today!

Armin

[John Kasaian]

The most I ever paid for a gallon of gas was the station closest to Yosemite. Fuel up big time before you get there. Looks like the 14th day of price increases today. 9% from last month, 19% from last year.

I want to be in Yosemite more than ever, but how to get there and drive around. Now the oil companies are doing what's called "Green Washing".

It's still under $4 a gallon for regular at the Costco in N. Fresno

[jetcode]

Crikey, isn't it early yet? Did the Sierra not get a lot of snow this year? F'g global warming.

There wasn't a lot of rain this year in California. A couple of years back a friend drove home via Tioga pass on the first day it opened and the snow was spectacular.

[John Kasaian]

Crikey, isn't it early yet? Did the Sierra not get a lot of snow this year? F'g global warming.

It all depends. About six or so years ago Tioga Pass was open on New Years Day--I drove over and it was slick as snot ( ice) :eek: It sure kept the rangers busy pulling cars out of ditches!

[Jim Galli]

It's still under $4 a gallon for regular at the Costco in N. Fresno

$3.87 in Tonopah! (said the frog in the frying pan)

[jetcode]

It all depends. About six or so years ago Tioga Pass was open on New Years Day--I drove over and it was slick as snot ( ice) :eek: It sure kept the rangers busy pulling cars out of ditches!

I remember one afternoon driving East on the next pass North of Tioga. I forget the name but snow was falling and chains were required but a bunch of tourists were without chains and at the bottom of this short downgrade was about 5-6 cars all piled up together. I thought I was toast with chains but somehow got the Westy off the grade and rescued a couple at the same time.

[jetcode]

$3.87 in Tonopah! (said the frog in the frying pan)

Jim where are you in relation to Lee Vining?

[jetcode]

The most I ever paid for a gallon of gas was the station closest to Yosemite. Fuel up big time before you get there. Looks like the 14th day of price increases today. 9% from last month, 19% from last year.

I want to be in Yosemite more than ever, but how to get there and drive around. Now the oil companies are doing what's called "Green Washing".

Thanks for introducing me to green washing. I contracted with a "green" company where the CFO drives the biggest gas guzzling truck possible. I thought that was an odd statement.

[Jim Galli]

Jim where are you in relation to Lee Vining?
'bout 120 miles due east on hwy 120 & 6.

[Shen45]

'bout 120 miles due east on hwy 120 & 6.

It is not a bad road and the scenery is excellent but watch the dips. You'll understand when you get there. :)

Allow about 8 hours to get there from the start of Mono lake. And that doesn't include stopping at the lake.

Steve

[Preston]

"I remember one afternoon driving East on the next pass North of Tioga. I forget the name..."

Joe, that would be Sonora Pass (9,6420') on CA 108.

The Tioga opening today is pretty average. I came over Sonora Pass yesterday (Tuesday) and there is still a good deal of snow in the area. My new bride and I were in Lee Vining Canyon the same morning, and the peaks above it are spectacular! The snow coverage is pretty decent up high, but certainly much less than in a more normal year.

The range had 120% of normal at the end of February, but a very dry March and April resulted in very little new snow; so, by the end of April the coverage was down to 67% of normal. With the record temperatures of the last week, the melt has really accelerated! The streams are running high, fast and cold!

-PB

[Darren Kruger]

Tioga & Sonora (and Ebbets) passes are currently closed. It was snowing down to around 6500' near Tahoe. I doubt it will take Caltrans long to open them up again once the weather clears.

From the Cal Trans website (http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/roadinfo/):


SR 120
[IN THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA AREA]
IS CLOSED FROM CRANE FLAT TO 5 MI WEST OF THE JCT OF US 395 /TIOGA PASS/ (TUOLUMNE, MONO CO) - DUE TO SNOW - MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO USE AN ALTERNATE ROUTE

[QT Luong]

I drove on Tioga Pass road on May 21st. There was almost no snow left around, and while there was a fair amount of water at Tuolumne Meadows, the terrain looked totally brown. This was a bit disappointing. I had seen before images with Tenaya Lake and Tuolumne Meadows partly frozen, which is why I tried to check it out on the first opening day. Now this makes me wonder at what time of the year they were taken, and what logistics were involved (multi-day x-country skiing ?). No campgrounds were opened. I slept in my car on the Saddlebag road that night. The next morning, I woke up to 2 inches of fresh snow. I heard that the next day the Tioga Pass road was closed again, so be sure to check if you plan to go there.

As for the dogwoods, they were definitively past peak in the Valley (although some OK shots are still possible) however still beautiful at higher elevations, particularly at the Tuolumne Grove and on 120 close to Crane Flat.

[vinny]

It was 96 degrees in the valley on Monday and snowing hard in many spots along tioga pass yesterday. I called the hotline before we left the valley to make sure and it was open. Fresh snow sticking to the trees was a treat. I pulled over at Ellery Lake to take a shot with the 8x10 and it had so much snow on it by the time i was finished, i couldn't fold up the bellows to put it back in the pack. The meadow by power plant road had a dusting of snow too. They were closing the gate on the east entrance as we went through. It was snowing in Lee Vining too. Incredible clouds.

[John Kasaian]

Weather in the mountains, as they say, is as unpredictable as a baby's bottom! ;)

[htswv]

Yes. Unpredictable is indeed the word. I was supposed to leave for a week in Yosemite on Tuesday...but now there are severe weather warnings for the area and the Tioga Pass is again closed due to snow. The weather forecast for the week seems to be much more of the same. The views of the Yosemite webcams are completely obscured...you can't see a thing.

It breaks my heart but my instinct is telling me to postpone/cancel my trip until sometime later in the year when everything is accessible. I'll have to pay Orbitz's ridiculous cancellation fees but I guess it's better than spending hundreds/thousands of dollars on a trip with pictures of nothing but fog/clouds. :-(

[Preston]

htsw,

Usually, this time of year the light in the Sierra and Yosemite is not the best--very bright and contrasty. Some of the best light I have seen in Yosemite is when the weather is not optimum for lounging in the meadows in the hot sun. Just because the webcams show clouds does not mean great photo opportunities on the Valley floor cannot be had. Another plus is there will be fewer people.

I hope you don't cancel your trip.

-PB

[John Kasaian]

Preston is right on. What the Tioga webcam shows if often very different from the weather on the valley floor---plus interesting weather and fresh snow provides some great vistas as Ansel Adams well knew. It beats looking down from Glacier Point at a smoggy valley anyway. Perhaps getting around is bit more of a hassle but the rewards I think justify the effort (unless of course, you're stuck in a blizzard for a week)

[sczin]

htsw,

To add to what Preston and John have said.

Whenever I plan visit Yosemite, I hope for unstable weather at this can provide some great lighting. Of course is depends on your goals and how much time you are spending there. If the grand landscapes aren’t available due to weather, there is an abundance of more intimate photographic opportunities in or near the valley. Such as: waterfalls, Happy Isles, Mirror Lake, Vernal Falls, Nevada Falls (weather permitting), Merced River, dogwoods (still blooming?), Tuolumne Grove, Mariposa Grove, and cascading creeks. You could easily stay busy for a week in the areas I mentioned. For ideas, check out Michael Frye’s book, http://www.amazon.com/Photographers-Guide-Yosemite-Michael-Frye/dp/1930238002.

All the best
Steve Castro

[Keith S. Walklet]

QT,

Those images of Tenaya Lake were made in better snow years when there was plenty of snow when the road opened. Given Glacier Point Road and Tioga typically open around the same time, I suspect that conditions would have permitted opening Tioga sooner, but there was no money in the budget to do so. Glacier Point Road has been open a couple of weeks already. Among other things, the Tioga road opening is determined by the NPS budget (they need staff to patrol) and snowpack, which is a safety concern (especially at Olmsted Point where an NPS plow operator was killed in an avalanche).

Though I can't say for certain, I have also thought that safety with regard to Tenaya Lake was also a concern, with park adminstrators taking a cautious stance by letting most of the ice on the lake melt before the road opened to avoid stupid people tricks like nimrods walking out on the ice. In all my years in the park, there was still ice on the lake surface only half a dozen times when the road opened, far from shore, and that was usually gone within a day or so.

When I was in the park teaching last week, the dogwood was still happening at higher elevations, but was mostly past prime in Yosemite Valley. The dogwood in the valley were early and quick this season due to the warm temperatures. Leaves emerged earlier and the bloom faded quickly unlike 1994, a terrific year when the bloom stayed at peak for four weeks in cool temps and overcast skies.

The falls benefited from the warm temperatures, but were expected to peak at least two weeks early.

[Hugh Sakols]

Here in El Portal it rained all night. I actually got the wood stove going for the first time in over a month. I imagine after it heats up again that we will see some amazing flooding in the meadows down in Yosemite Valley.

QT
In 1999 or 2000 I skied into the twenty lakes basin (near saddlebag lake) over memorial day weekend. The snow was just melting off the lakes creating some great colors and patterns.

My wife and I now anxiously wait to move up to Tuolumne Meadows where we will care take Parson's Lodge.

See you in the high country.

[John Kasaian]

My wife and I now anxiously wait to move up to Tuolumne Meadows where we will care take Parson's Lodge.

See you in the high country.

Awwww man, am I jealous!