Las Vegas to San Francisco via Tioga Pass in October ?

The final leg of my road trip will be from Las Vegas to San Francisco in mid-October.

I'm considering a 3-4 day trip going via Death Valley and Tioga Pass on around October 17-20th. I know that Tioga Pass hasn't closed that early in recent years, but I'm looking for advice as to what weather I can expect at that time and how likely is the trip to be impaired, even if the road is still technically open. I'll be in a rental car, so anything that requires snow chains will likely go against their policies.

My other alternative is to take the coastal route, and save the DV and Yosemite for a future trip when I can do it a little earlier in the year.

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

It's usually a lovely time of year to visit and my favourite to be honest, but the weather will do exactly as it pleases and is unpredictable, especially in the mountains. The Tioga Pass doesn't usually close for the season at this point, but the closure only lists the date of when it closed for the season and does not include temporary closures which can occur with an early winter storm, or even freezing temps that leaves ice on the road. There is a good chance that everything will be fine but what you could always do is keep the first night after Vegas open to change, that way you can go around the south of the mountains if you have to and enter Yosemite valley from the south. So you could think about staying around Bishop or Mammoth with the pass open, or around Lake Isabella/Bakersfield if it is closed. Both options would leave you time to enjoy Death valley on the way.