My guess has already passed, so here's another one:
June 24th, 8 am.
UPDATE: I was reminded that it is has to 15 or more days hence. OK. July 3, 8 am. Sorry about that!
Donna
My guess has already passed, so here's another one:
June 24th, 8 am.
UPDATE: I was reminded that it is has to 15 or more days hence. OK. July 3, 8 am. Sorry about that!
Donna
Does being open two hours a day count? Seems like nobody has the right date and I was week off (guessing two months in advance). I'm blaming it on record snow in May.
"Yosemite’s Tioga Road will open on Friday, the first day of summer, but initially only for two hours a day.
The park announced that motor vehicles and bicycles will be allowed on the trans-Sierra route from 10 to 11 a.m. and 3 to 4 p.m. daily."
From https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/06/...o-hours-a-day/
I don't think we've had this issue before.
Going to have to have a ruling from Sheriff Dave, but I would tend to support "not declaring the road open" until it is open all day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=wAjm1usE9oY
But there are some great views of the road in the interview above! -- Thanks to member
tseeb for finding this video!
Mark
In keeping with the rules that state *The official date for this Tioga Pass Prognosticator contest tracks with Pacific Time (USA), so no matter what date it might be in your local neighbourhood, the date used for this contest will be the same one used by the officials at Yosemite National Park for Tioga Pass. and how I interpreted it in **post 58** of this thread stating " Once the road is open to traffic and it's been officially announced we have the date, roadworks or not." I would say that the Tioga Pass was officially opened on June 21st as per the Yosemite web page. This is where it gets tricky, as at the time of deciding this I didn't realise it would make me the Dcttp (Darn close Tioga Pass prognosticator) so any objections, I'm all ears !! (or eyes in this case)
Every other contest matches the official Yosemite opening and closing dates, I don't think this should be any different.
Dave.
Tioga pass is due to open to 'unrestricted traffic' on Monday July 1st at 8am, the date and time (within an hour )as predicted by tseeb. (The official Yosemite page states the road officially opened on June 21st with restrictions in place)
Dave.
Sheriff Dave,
Interesting policy call coming from you?
Since there is $100 to me riding on it, I’ll also have to question when Tioga opened. I guess I have to accept what is posted at https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/seasonal.htm which seems like it should include a note to go with the asterisk.
I hope Tioga is open this afternoon as I plan to use it to return from Mammoth to the Bay Area. I drove over 9600+ foot Sonora Pass in the dark late on June 30 as Tioga Pass was not yet open (except for 2 hrs a day with no stopping allowed).
I would not return that way as going E was scary enough in an 11K+ lb diesel truck camper. I went up the 25% grade near the top without problem, but without a exhaust brake, I would not go down it. Going down the E slope I was in 1st gear (automatic transmission) for a long time and tried to stay off my brakes as much as possible. I did smell brakes once, but I think it was from SUV that I’d let pass.
Will post pictures when I get home.
Just to confirm, the official opening date for 2019 is June 21st as stated by the Officials at Yosemite and listed on their 'Opening and closing dates' page.
Although this year was slightly unusual in the fact that the opening times were limited, it was open. We have had it in the past that the Pass has opened and then closed again due to a late storm, but the Official opening day remained the same.
Looking forward to seeing them ! Hope you have a great trip.Quote:
(Originally posted by tseeb.) Will post pictures when I get home.
Dave.
A correction to my previous post on Sonora Pass is that the grade on the W side at the top is 26 percent. I think you go from 7,000 to 8,000 feet in 3 miles, then from 8,000 to 9,000 in two more miles and go up the last 600+ feet in under a mile.
Attachment 4856
I got to the bottom of Tioga Pass at 1:22 PM, about 30 minutes after leaving Mammoth, and even with a stop at a turnout to take these pictures
Attachment 4857
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I was at the top in less than 25 minutes.
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Across the highway from parking area with bathroom at the pass is 13,053' Mt. Dana, the second highest peak in Yosemite and probably the easiest 13K peak to get to the top of in CA.
Attachment 4860
I had a short delay due to about a five car line to get to entrance where I showed my Senior Park Pass and asked the ranger when the pass opened. He said "July 1". When I asked if it was open earlier, he said it was really closed, but they let people use the road two hours a day.
(to be continued with more pictures and sorry no video of the conversation)
I only stopped at the top of the pass for about 10 minutes. While there, I talked to a guy from Sacramento who had ridden his (< $1,000 and without disc brakes) bike up from 395 and was getting his courage up for the ride back down. I also stopped at the end of Tuolumne Meadows and hiked about halfway up Pothole Dome. First picture is Pothole Dome and second is my camper at W end of Tuolumne Meadows.
Attachment 4862
Attachment 4861
Traction on the granite was excellent, but I was expected in San Jose about 7:30 so I did not go to the top or stop at Tenaya Lake or Olmstead Point. In about the middle of the park, there appeared to have been a head-on accident. Someone going the other way signaled me to slow down and it looked like volunteers were flagging cars through as I think only one emergency vehicle was there. I did see more Police, Fire and Ambulance going the other way between the accident and Tuolumne Grove parking where I stopped for a few minutes.
While I have never seen the Giant Sequoias at Tuolumne Grove, I did short hike to nearby Merced Grove in the last 10 years. I also was at Calaveras Big Trees twice in the last 13 months and went to Sequoia National Park for the first time less than 10 years ago when my wife was working at the gateway city of Visalia. The hike to Tuolumne Grove is only 2 miles, but sign said it's strenuous and to allow 2-3 hours. Picture is a replica of a Giant Sequoia.
Attachment 4863
On my exit from the park where they ask you to stop and show pass to make sure you didn't go through without paying $35 (good for 7 days, but motorcycles are only $30), I asked the ranger when Tioga Road opened and she said July 1st. When I asked if it was open earlier, she said it was, but only 2 hours per day. So both rangers I asked said Tioga Rd opened July 1, but they disagreed on whether is was open earlier. If Tioga was open, why did I cross much steeper Sonora Pass at 10:45 PM on June 30?
Attachment 4865
I've learned not to arrive San Jose between 4 and 7 pm on weekdays as I-680 S usually is slow due to traffic for most of my last 10 freeway miles. This time the slowdown was shorter than normal as schools are out for summer and a lot of people may have taken the week off with the 4th falling on a Thursday. But there was a slowdown and an off-ramp was closed by a brushfire, possibly caused by homeless who have many camps on the W side of freeway between Milpitas and San Jose.
Attachment 4864