Triog Road to OPEN!

[balzaccom]

Tioga Road (continuation of Highway 120 through the park) will open to vehicles on Saturday, July 22, at 8 am. While vault and portable toilets will be available, there will be no water, no store/food service, and no fuel. Be sure to bring all the food/water you need.

The Tuolumne Meadows Wilderness Center will be open (8 am to 5 pm) and a general information desk near the visitor center will be open from 9 am to 5 pm.

Tioga Road has some damage, so watch for one-lane sections, with delays up to 15 minutes just east of Olmsted Point.

There is no estimate when Tamarack Flat or Porcupine Flat Campgrounds will open. Other campgrounds on Tioga Road will not open this year.

It's still snowy up there! Meadows and some trails are flooded. Snow is persisting in some shady areas as low as 8,000 feet, with extensive, deep snow coverage by 9,000 feet. Stay on trails to protect growing plants and plan for wet feet.

[damu21]

how late into october might we expect trails above 9000feet to still have a lot of snow coverage enough to effect navigating the trails?

[balzaccom]

The answer to THAT quesetion depends on the weather, which as we have learned, can be pretty darn variable.

However, the park usually closes the road to overnight parking (which means you won't be able to drive to a trailhead and leave your vehicle there) around October 15--also depending on the weather, but rarely after that date. They don't want cars left there over the winter when they get caught in a big storm and can't drive out.

We've hiked there are late as November, which was really cold, but not snowy. And one memorable year it was so dry that the road was open (for day traffic, not overnight parking) into January...and people were ice skating on Tenaya Lake.

[damu21]

im looking at the first week of october to start at ten lakes, so before the cutoff on the 15th and perhaps late enough for more snow to melt. im coming from the east coast though and i have no snow-navigation experience. isnt there a snow-level website i could check?

[balzaccom]

The Best idea is to check with the rangers in the wilderness office as your trip approaches. That, and maybe brush up on your navigation skills. The route does make sense, but as I recall, there is a section that is really only marked with a few cairns over granite, and if you are sketchy about navigation, that might be a dealbreaker in the snow.