Yosemite National Park

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Driving Tioga Road

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Editor Pick

Leaving Yosemite

  • October 20, 2008
  • Rated 5 of 5 by callen60 from Ozarks, Missouri
Leaving Yosemite

Leaving the Valley towards the north, you join Big Oak Flat Road, which heads towards the junction with the Tioga Road at Crane Flat. If you continue past the turn to Tioga, you’ll leave the park at the Big Oak Flat Entrance, where you can either turn west towards civilization or north to eventually re-enter the park and head to Hetch Hetchy Valley.

Hetch Hetchy was John Muir’s great defeat: the water interests of the swelling San Francisco area overcame his resistance, and damned the Tuolumne River following Congress’ authorization in 1914. I’d love to visit this site, and offer my own hopes that efforts to remove the dam will finally bear fruit. But on this visit, there wouldn’t be time.

There was plenty of time to think about it, however, as we sat stalled in our first Yosemite traffic jam on the hills to Crane Flat. After about 15 minutes, things cleared for good, and we stopped at the gas station at the junction—but not before sighting one last bear for good measure.

The road climbs steeply as you leave the Valley, where the elevation is roughly 3400’. Big Oak Flat Road runs right up the hillside, hitting 4800’ in about three miles, for about a 9% average grade. Things level out, obviously, near Crane Flat, and then Tioga Road bends back to the east, and finishes ascending a near-plateau on the north side of the Valley.

This is a spectacular road, through forest for the first part, and then in to beautiful, open alpine spaces. It was quite an accomplishment to push a road through this region, and it remains one of only a few highways that cross the Sierras. This is the southernmost, and the last half of the trip re-enters the mountains, providing the most spectacular scenery along this 65-mile drive.

Olmsted Point is about 35 miles from Crane Flat. It looks down Yosemite Valley at the back of Half Dome, and although it doesn’t provide a vista over the entire area, is still worth a stop. We hiked out along the granite surfaces at the end of the short trail just after 6pm, with no other company joining us in leaving the viewing area by the parking lot. We were a little nervous about abandoning our car, since a rather aggressive marmot kept popping out and heading for our vehicle, and acting as if he was waiting for us to head down the trail a ways. We’d read a few horror stories about their appetite for rubber hoses, and penchant for getting atop your engine block, but the car started fine when we returned.

In another mile we reached beautiful Tenaya Lake, nestled in among mountains on nearly every side. The road skirts between one set and the lakes’ north western shore. In five more miles we reached Tuolumne Meadows, the only ‘developed’ area along Tioga Road. There are minimal campgrounds and picnic sites at a few other places, but Tuolumne also has gas, rangers, a store and restaurant. In this area, granite domes just rise up out of the grasses in places. There are trailheads into some spectacular backcountry, and access to the Pacific Crest and John Muir Trails that run through the rest of the Sierras.

Five more miles brought us near Tioga Pass, nearly 10,000’ high—the highest altitude roadway in California. This is the park’s eastern boundary, and the road begins a steep descent of 3000’ to the town of Lee Vining on the edge of Mono Lake. The roadway is carved directly into the mountainside, and it’s steep, but there are wide shoulders and plenty of room. The views are spectacular along here, as you pass between peaks and lakes. I wished I wasn’t driving, but someone needed to look around the next hairpin curve.

We were back in more typical country, with another three and half hours of driving ahead before reaching Death Valley. This drive down the eastern side of the Sierras was a beautiful and lonely one, especially pretty at sunset. We’d passed the northern- and western-most point on our trip, and we had one more national park to go, but we were definitely turning towards home.

From journal California Bold Rush

Editor Pick

Driving Tioga Road

Driving Tioga Road

It's hard to leave the beauty of Yosemite Valley, but other sections of the park deserve a look. I took a worthwhile ride over Tioga Road to view the northern section of the park. As you leave the valley, head north on Big Oak Flat Road. Gas up when you get to Crane Flat; fuel stations are scarce in the park and all that up/down mountain driving tends to burn gasoline faster.

Out of Crane Flat, turn right on Tioga Road. On the first part of the ride, you'll be winding through a heavily forested area. (Watch for deer--several bounded in front of my car here.) You'll feel the elevation rise as you head east--the valley floor is at about 4,000 feet while Tioga Pass (highest point on the road) approaches 10,000 feet.

After about 15 miles, the scenery begins to open up. Your first stop should be Olmsted Point. From this vantage, you'll get a backdoor view down Tenaya Canyon of Half Dome and the Quarter Domes. Also, there's some good rock scrambling here. Just over a mile further east, you'll pass lovely Tenaya Lake, which offers two picnic areas. During the summer season, the Park Service provides a shuttle bus from the valley to Tioga Road. If you get off at Tenaya Lake, you can hike back into the valley.

I saved my lunch for a point another seven miles down the road: Lembert Dome. You can eat at the picnic tables here, but I recommend walking just a little ways beyond the parking lot and finding solitude on a slab of granite that overlooks the Tuolumne (TWA-lum-nee) Meadows, one of the prettiest sights in this part of the park. There's a short trail that ascends the dome, however it was closed during my visit due to storm damage.

After lunch, I turned around, heading back west. Just a mile into it, I stopped at the Pothole Dome, which is not so attractive itself, but provides some great rock scrambling opportunities and a dynamite view of the prettier Fairview Dome across the highway.

When you're through scrambling, keep driving west, enjoying a different perspective of the same natural features. When you return to Crane Flat, stop at the parking area for the Tuolumne Grove. Walk a mile down a steep (but paved) hill and behold a grove of one of nature's greatest creations: the mighty sequoia. A short path takes you off the paved road (once the old stagecoach route) into the forest of giants. You'll get to see a tunnel tree, some fallen giants and other magnificent sequoia specimens.

You can complete the entire round-trip drive with stops for lunch, hiking and rock scrambling in about five or six hours. Forests, lakes, wildlife, mountain meadows, granite domes, giant sequoias--what more can you ask for in one day?

From journal Adventures in Yosemite National Park

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