Best route if Tioga Pass is closed

My husband and I are planning a driving trip from Las Vegas to Yosemite National Park via Death Valley on May 2nd of this year. Our plan is to leave Las Vegas early morning of the 2nd and overnight in Lone Pine. As Tioga Pass will be closed at that time of year, I'm hoping some one will be able to give me a viable alternate route that takes us to Yosemite National Park. We are travelling from Yosemite to San Francisco as well and are limited for time. We need to be in San Francisco by May 5th. Any help/suggestions would be gratefully accepted.

Jill

Nothing is great with the passes closed. I'd probably take 178 to 99.

Thank you!

Or.... 58 to Bakersfield (4+ hrs.), 99 to Fresno (2 hrs), 41 to Yosemite (2hrs)

190 to 395 to 88 and over. The Eastern Sierra is the most beautiful place on earth, and you'll spend a day seeing it. The southern routes miss it. Plan to spend a day. Explore the lakes above Bishop or Mammoth or June Lake or Bodie or Mono Lake or Manzanar or....

Yosemite Valley is beautiful too, but crowded. Take your time to get there, and see the sights along the way. We routinely rush through Yosemite to get to the good stuff along 395.

I agree, going over Carson Pass (open almost all year) on Hwy 88 would be a far more rewarding and scenic way to reach Yosemite Valley than taking the southern route from Lone Pine. The southern route would take approx. 6 1/2 hours of travel time, while going north would add about 2 1/2 hours more of travel time (if Monitor Pass and Big Oak Flat Road are STILL closed). It would be about an hour shorter if Monitor Pass and Big Oak Flat Road are reopened by then (a good possibility).

Going north would — besides traveling along the very scenic eastern Sierra and Mono Lake — open up the possibility of visiting the world-famous ghost town of Bodie and also visiting many of the historic Gold Rush towns that are lined along Hwy 49.

That would be far more rewarding than traveling up Hwy 99 and Hwy 41 to Yosemite.

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Leave No Trace



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2017 02:16PM by plawrence.

......but if you take the 99 you get to go through the "Raisin capital of the world".