The National Park Service has good news for lots of Yosemite/Gold Country visitors today. Highway 120’s Tioga Pass (the seasonal eastern entrance to Yosemite) opened at 12 noon today and (weather permitting) will remain open until late fall. The NPS also announces that Glacier Point Road is also now open to its termination point at the Glacier Point Look Out.
While Tioga Pass is now open (just in time for the busy Memorial Day Weekend) park officials caution that not all visitor services are up & runnning yet. Some of campgrounds along the eastern 120 corridor are not open yet either. For the most up to date status of the park’s campgrounds, follow this link.
Both Highway 4’s Ebbett’s Pass and Highway 108’s Sonora Pass opened earlier this month of 5/14 .
The opening of these trans-Sierra passes is vitally important to so many people. Area visitors now have full access the eastern slope of the Sierra which includes the ghost town of Bodie, Mono Lake and the town of Bridgeport. Access to Lake Tahoe, Reno and other Nevada destinations is now possible from the west. Residents of remote Alpine County (California’s least populated county) now have full access to the entire region. When Ebbett’s Pass is closed, residents of western Alpine County are stuck on the western side of the Sierra. Eastern Alpine County residents are forced to do shopping, etc. in Nevada. Similarly, merchants in Mono County’s Bridgeport see their business double, triple & even quadruple with the opening of the 108 & 120 western portals.