Yet Another Vegas - San Francisco Thread !

[Pie Eater Chris]

Hi,

Travelling to California from UK to do a LA - LV - SF - LA trip with wife and 2 kids (11 & 14) in late May / Early June. Have got most of the planning done and some accommodation booked, but just grappling with the LV - SF section and would appreciate any advice. We will leave Vegas on Saturday and are booked in SF on Monday, so have 2 nights to make the journey (and see as much as possible en route !). Original plan was to head through Death Valley then up the eastern side of the Sierras, stay in Mammoth Lakes area and then down through Yosemite, but advised that Tioga may well still be closed then.

Revised plan is to go from Vegas through Death Valley then overnight in Bakersfield. Early start next day and head up to Yosemite (Yes I know half a day is nowhere near enough to do it justice !) and stay somewhere like Sonora, getting to SF for lunchtime on the Monday.

Questions :
Would any of the other passes north of Tioga be open and give us options that way ?
If we go south of the Sierras could we get practically further than Bakersfield (bearing in mind I'm the only driver and we've the 2 kids so don't fancy a 10 hour or more stretch as others have done) to either get us to Yosemite earlier or get as close to Sequoia NP to go through en route to Yosemite (with a very early start) ?

As with others, I'm minded to slightly distrust online route planners and would appreciate the voice of experience.

Thanks

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

There is a good chance the Tioga Pass will be open when you travel but unfortunately there is no way of knowing until much closer to the time. Other passes tend to open earlier as you can see from these Historical opening and closing dates for Sierra Passes. The problem is that even with Sonora pass [108] it would still take longer than going south via Bakersfield. I would not book anything for this night and wait and see what the conditions are and if Tioga is open, what a bonus ! Bakersfield would be a reasonable target if you had to go south but again if you left it open you might get a little further.