Tioga Pass - Yosemite National Park

The only way to enter Yosemite National Park from the east is to use Tioga Pass Road.  Also know as Highway 120, it is a beautiful drive, but be prepared.   We parked the motorhome in nearby Lee Vining, CA and drove the minivan into Yosemite each day during our visit.  When we last visited Yosemite National Park in 2011, Tioga Pass Road was not opened due to winter snow falls.  This year the pass was opened early in May and we hurried to see what we missed. Here's a link to our previous visit Yosemite 2011

For some eastbound drivers, the worst bit can be the final descent as you exit the park and travel the pass down to Lee Vining.  Driving close to an edge that drops off sharply around 2000 feet isn't what most drivers are used to, so it can be challenging. 

This scenic drive demands concentration due to the tight bends and drop offs, but it has stunning scenery if you can hold your nerve.

Tioga Pass is typically closed from November through May, but we got lucky as the pass opened on May 11, 2013.  You can still see plenty of snow piles along the route.

Someone even had time to make a snowman.  Tioga Pass Road is 62 miles in length from Lee Vining on the East side of the park to Big Oaks Flat Road on the West side of Yosemite National Park.

The snow melt provided rapid water in the streams as well as spectacular waterfalls. 

You can see here that Mammoth Lake is still frozen.  

Medlicott Dome is one of the biggest domes in Tuolumne area, if not the biggest in sheer size and volume. It has a huge number of climbing routes, most of which are bolted faces with occasional cracks and offwidths.  

We were very lucky to see two climbers coming down the mountain.  In this photo, one of the climbers is resting about halfway down the peak.  

We drove the entire length of Toga Pass Road and we were about 3-miles down Big Oaks Flat road when I took this picture of the center of Yosemite Valley.

If you click on this photo, and look in the center, you can see water running down the mountain from snow melt off the Tioga Pass Road area. 

This is a close up photo of the Merced River running directly through the park.  It is most well known for its swift and steep course through the southern part of Yosemite National Park, and the world-famous Yosemite Valley.

Tioga Pass at 9945 feet is the highest automobile pass in California. The road to the pass was constructed in two parts. The first part was a wagon road, 56 miles long, going frrom Crane Flat on the west side to a silver mine on the east slope of the Sierra Nevada. It was constructed in 1883 at a cost of $61,000. This part terminated a short distance east of Tioga Pass. The mine was closed the following year as it was not profitable.

Construction of the second part from Lee Vining on the east side to Tioga Pass was begun in 1902 and was completed in 1910 at a cost of $63,000. Considered a monument to the skill of the state engineers, it was routed up Lee Vining  Canyon and had a maximum grade of 7%. It was a narrow, exciting road with a steep drop off to Lee Vining Creek below.