yosemite from west side to Tahoe.

[rickwellman]

Traveling from west side of yosemite to lake tahoe class A motorhome with trailer. Best route hopefully without a lot of steep grades and curves. Stresses wife out.

[msmith1199]

grant135b wrote:

msmith1199 wrote:
I hope you were going east or you didn't get to Mono Lake from Yosemite!

Brain cramp! Corrected. 🙂

Actually it was my error. You can get to Mono Lake from Yosemite by going West, it's just that it's a 25,000 mile drive if you go that way! 🙂

[grant135b]

msmith1199 wrote:
I hope you were going east or you didn't get to Mono Lake from Yosemite!

Brain cramp! Corrected. 🙂

[msmith1199]

grant135b wrote:
There were times on that trip when I wished we had the MH with us and other moments when it crossed my mind that I was glad I was driving the pocket rocket rather than the MH/toad combo, and going west on 120 from Yosemite to Mono Lake and Bodie was one of those times. 🙂

I hope you were going east or you didn't get to Mono Lake from Yosemite! I've done that route quite a few times in my DP with toad and it's not that bad, but then again I live in California. I used to wonder why people on here seemed so afraid of some of the mountain roads out here, then I was in South Carolina one time looking around and it dawned on me, many people in the USA have never driven on a mountain road with a 2000 foot drop off just 8 feet away on one side! When I started thinking about it that way, then I realized why some people could be nervous on the mountain passes. I've been driving on them all my life so it came easy to me when driving the motorhome on them.

[grant135b]

Several summers ago my family and I did a tour of western NPs in our gas class A with a toad. We did a lot of mountain driving on that trip with no big issues, but we didn't go to Yosemite. Then a couple of summers ago my 15 y.o. son and I did a 7,500 mile, month-long hiking and tent camping tour of the West which included Yosemite. Since it was just the two of us we left the apartment-on-wheels at home and tent camped out of the back of our zippy hatchback (40 mpg). There were times on that trip when I wished we had the MH with us and other moments when it crossed my mind that I was glad I was driving the pocket rocket rather than the MH/toad combo, and going east on 120 from Yosemite to Mono Lake and Bodie was one of those times. 🙂

[msmith1199]

I figured that's what you meant, but the way you wrote it looked like you were saying 120 was closed so you have to go use 140.

[supercub]

msmith1199 wrote:

supercub wrote:
120, is still closed and they don't have an expected date to open it yet. Probably still a few weeks away before it's open. It's probably the shortest route, but if you want to avoid curves and steep roads, I would elect to go 140 west to 99, then north to Sacramento to 50 or 80 to Tahoe.

As I stated above, and I just checked again to confirm this, Highway 120 out the West side of the park is not closed. Only Tioga Pass is closed. There is construction on the road and there is a temporary night time closure planned in June, but right now it's open.

When I said 120, I meant 120 Tioga Pass. I didn't mean 120 going to the west back to 99. Yes that portion was closed due to a road slide, but is open now to one way traffic, last report I saw a couple days ago. However, per the Sonora Paper, Tioga Pass, which is 120 is still closed with no expected opening date. 🙂

[MrWizard]

I haven't been to Yosemite, since the last trip from with my camper van, when we stayed at Bass Lake, 25 yrs ago

So I don't remember which is the easier route to drive
But With my current DP , driving the easier route would be more important to me than the extra miles and fuel

Each of us has different priorities

[msmith1199]

I posted the miles above. 28 extra miles to take 140 versus 120 from the Valley. For me that would be almost 4 gallons of diesel at California prices is about $12 bucks. But that's why I would take 120 to 49 to 88 to 89.

[MrWizard]

120 going west or 140 going west
Makes little difference
You are still going to go west to 99 then North before going east

If you are in Yosemite Valley then 120 is closer than 140
Since that is usually booked solid many months in advance, and you are either someplace else in the park, or outside the park
140 might be closer
It's really not critical

[msmith1199]

supercub wrote:
120, is still closed and they don't have an expected date to open it yet. Probably still a few weeks away before it's open. It's probably the shortest route, but if you want to avoid curves and steep roads, I would elect to go 140 west to 99, then north to Sacramento to 50 or 80 to Tahoe.

As I stated above, and I just checked again to confirm this, Highway 120 out the West side of the park is not closed. Only Tioga Pass is closed. There is construction on the road and there is a temporary night time closure planned in June, but right now it's open.

[supercub]

120, is still closed and they don't have an expected date to open it yet. Probably still a few weeks away before it's open. It's probably the shortest route, but if you want to avoid curves and steep roads, I would elect to go 140 west to 99, then north to Sacramento to 50 or 80 to Tahoe.

[rickwellman]

Thanks for all the information.

[msmith1199]

MrWizard wrote:
When
I haven't checked, but I would surprised if the Tioga pass was even open
there may be no choice but to exit the park and take the most southern route
I just checked highway 120 Tioga road is closed
No predicated opening date
Might not be open until mid July or later
Closed because of snow

https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/conditions.htm

Tioga Pass is the part of Highway 120 that exits to the east of the park. You can still use Highway 120 to exit to the west and go down to 99. It is currently open, but it was closed for a while a few months ago because of a land slide inside the Yosemite Valley. But it's open now. Tioga has a huge amount of snow on the road right now, up to 20 feet deep in some places. They are plowing it now.

[MrWizard]

When
I haven't checked, but I would surprised if the Tioga pass was even open
there may be no choice but to exit the park and take the most southern route
I just checked highway 120 Tioga road is closed
No predicated opening date
Might not be open until mid July or later
Closed because of snow

https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/conditions.htm