nervous about getting up to toulemme in early june

[wooky999]

am i gonna have serious problems getting up to toulemme in early june, wed the 3rd? I am planning on driving up, either tioga pass or shuttle from lower valley. I nervous about the snow, my hike is suppose to start at toulemme meadows. Any one got experience with this. And also are the mosquitos as bad as everyone says.

[bill-e-g]

Well, the average opening date is end of May.
Plowing starts on April 15th.

The last 2 years it has opened well before June.
Well... why not look for yourself?
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tiogaopen.htm

Mosquitos in Tuolumne at the very beginning of June will be pretty much non-existent.
Just bring a small can of mosquito dope in the off-chance ...

As for the snow, I think I may have said this before but...
It can sorta be fun to hike on. At that time, typically the snow
will have really packed down so that you can just walk over it
the entire day without sinking in. I recommend hiking sticks....

It will depend on where you are going how much you hit and
of course how much more dumps before then.

You can monitor the snowpack:
http://cdec.water.ca.gov/snow/current/snow/

Conditions really vary alot year to year but right now it looks fine.
In all honesty we could really use the road not opening until July.
Then again, I'm ok with not watering my lawn.

[balzaccom]

We were up there a few years ago in mid-June, and the road had just opened. The fact that the road is open does not mean that the trails are clear, or even visible. It all depends on the snowpack...and there is a lot of weather between now and the end of May.

That said, it is wonderful up there at the beginning of the season. IF you can read a topo map you can pretty much figure out where you want to go, and there are fewer people.

We took one hike out towards Youngs Lake...didn't get there, got stopped by major stream flooding a few miles into the trip, but had a great hike and saw one other person--not counting the fresh bear tracks in the snow.

[hiker97]

Unless it's a heavier snow year that prevents your trip out to TM, early June would be a great time to go. When there are still some patches of snow on the ground and the nights are cold, it's a great time to be there. The mosquitos will not yet be out in force under that scenario. Much better than late June/early July when you can come home from your trip with a few dozen bites...

I'd recommend having a lower elevation backup plan on the off-chance that Tioga Pass is still closed. I agree...we could really use another big storm or two that dumps enough snow to close 120 until June! We're looking at drought warnings and tightened watering rules here in the Central Valley.