#GLACIER POINT ROAD OPEN HOW TO#

Once that last piece of rock work is done, Andriessen said, crews will begin repairing and replacing guardrails damaged or destroyed over the winter. Caltrans crews finished clearing snow from that steep, winding section weeks ago and have been busy ever since removing boulders deposited on the roadway during the winter and restoring roadside berms that help contain rockfalls.Ĭhristopher Andriessen, spokesperson for Caltrans District 9, said in an email Friday that rock clearing continues in an area called Blue Slide, about midway along Highway 120 between the pass and the town of Lee Vining. Repair work is also continuing to the east of Tioga Pass along the road’s state-owned continuation, Highway 120. In a screenshot from a National Park Service video, a bulldozer and snowplow work to clear the Tioga Road, Yosemite National Park’s high-country route, on June 21, 2023. “Almost all of them have taken some damage, and some of them are just completely destroyed.”īecause of all the assessment and repair work, the park says it still cannot say when the road will open. “There’s a fair number of buildings up there,” Lyon said. Lyon said part of the delay in lifting travel restrictions in the area is the need to assess and repair roadside restrooms, staff housing and other facilities damaged during the winter. Lyon said crews have cleared that section of road but that avalanche damage to one lane there will require traffic control regulated by temporary stoplights when the road opens.

The best known and perhaps most dangerous of those avalanche zones is adjacent to Olmsted Point, a site famed for its spectacular views. As it does every year, it has also involved trying to clear the more than two dozen segments of the road that are prone to avalanches. That work has involved months of plowing with tracked vehicles, bulldozers, rotary plows and other heavy equipment. “Everyone’s been talking about what a crazy, epic winter we’ve had and just the monumental task of getting that road open,” said Steve Lyon, a Yosemite National Park ranger, earlier this week.

#GLACIER POINT ROAD OPEN HOW TO#

Jump to: How to travel to Yosemite avoiding the Tioga Pass.This year’s long closure is the direct result of this winter’s historic snowfall, which not only buried the road in snow and ice but caused serious damage to parts of the 46-mile route and adjacent facilities. The only later openings occurred in 1917, on July 19, and in 19 - on July 15 both years. The last time the Tioga Road remained closed this late in the season was 1922, when the highway opened July 10. Original story, July 10: One of the rites of California’s late spring/early summer is the opening of the Tioga Road, the route across Yosemite’s high country and one treasured for its access to some of the national park’s best hiking and camping and its most memorable views.

While travelers still won’t be able to enter the park, the 12-mile stretch of highway through Lee Vining Canyon will now provide access to campgrounds and trails that have remained inaccessible while Caltrans worked to removed snow and rocks and to repair damage along the route. On Thursday afternoon, Caltrans opened Highway 120 between the town of Lee Vining and the national park gate at the pass’s 9,945-foot summit. “But we can’t open it until we can have rangers up there patrolling.”īut there is some good news for those who are seeking access to areas near Tioga Pass but outside the park. The lack of housing for rangers and other staff is adding to the long-delayed road opening, which is within a few days of being the latest since the route first opened to motor vehicles in 1915. Staff housing and other structures in the area also need repairs. He said virtually all of the structures along the Tioga corridor were affected, with 62% being seriously damaged or destroyed.Ī ranger station at Tuolumne Meadows is being torn down because it was wrecked by heavy snow loads.

“I wish I had something good to tell you, but it’s a mess up there,” Steve Lyon, a park ranger, told KQED Thursday. Thursday, July 13: Yosemite National Park’s Tioga Road remains closed, with crews working to repair high-country facilities that suffered massive damage during the historic snows last winter. After 1938, the road never opened later than July 1. In several other years up through the late 1930s, the road opened as late as July 15. Before this year, the latest seasonal closure recorded on the Tioga Road was 1917, when the road opened on July 19.

Glacier point road open