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Tioga Pass Scenic Drive

This Drive Comes From...

An image of the book: Scenic Highways and Byways

National Geographic's Guide to Scenic Highways and Byways

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Here is a chance to see Yosemite’s backcountry—the granite peaks of the Sierra Nevada, shimmering lakes, glacial valleys, and wildflower meadows. You’ll drive over the highest automobile pass in California before descending rocky, dramatic Lee Vining Canyon to Mono Lake. The route is decidedly less crowded than the road through Yosemite Valley. CONTINUED

(Continued From Top)

Drive into Yosemite National Park (+1 209 372 0264. $20 vehicle, $10 person) at the Big Oak Flat Entrance Station and go east 8 miles [12.9 kilometers] on Rte. 120 (Big Oak Flat Road). Then turn left, following Rte. 120 as it becomes Tioga Road, whose points of interest will be handily marked with numbered “T signs.” You begin a climb through mixed evergreen forests, but after about 14 miles [23 kilometers] the trees begin clearing and views broaden to the high country as you reach the vista point (T11) for Mount Clark (11,522 feet; 3,511.9 meters) and Mount Hoffman (10,850 feet; 3,307.1 meters).
At Yosemite Creek (T15) a granite canyon resembling a trough conducts snowmelt 7 miles [11.3 kilometers] downstream to Yosemite Falls. To learn to recognize trees along Tioga Road, stop ahead at a nature trail (T18) that identifies pines (Jeffrey, western white, lodgepole) and firs (red and white). Also stop at Olmsted Point (T24) and stroll a quarter mile [0.4 kilometer] for a look down Tenaya Canyon at Half Dome, the world-famous granite monolith rising nearly a mile [1.6 kilometers] above Yosemite Valley’s floor.
You can picnic on the sandy beach at mile-long [1.6-kilometer-long] Tenaya Lake. The rock formations girding the lake exhibit glacier polish that prompted the Yosemite Indians to name it Py-wi-ack—Lake of the Shining Rocks. Then drive on, past the polished granite knob of Fairview Dome (T28).

Much-loved Tuolumne Meadows (8,600 feet; 2,621.3 meters) is the largest subalpine meadow in the Sierra Nevada. During the Ice Age this region lay buried under 2,000 feet [609.6 meters] of ice, and all the features you see—ponds, domes, horned peaks—were carved by glaciers. Today, meandering creeks and the Tuolumne River help flood the meadows in June. By July there are blossoms of wildflowers, such as Indian paintbrush and cinquefoil. Stop in at the Tuolumne Meadows Visitor Center (+1 209 372 0263. Mem. Day-late Oct.), a hub from which hiking trails radiate into the high country.
As you leave, look northward to Lembert Dome (T32), another piece of glacial sculpture. After 2 miles [3.2 kilometers] the road parallels the boulder-strewn Dana Fork of the Tuolumne River (T34). At T36 you have a clear view of Mount Dana (13,053 feet; 4,115.7 meters) and Mount Gibbs (12,764 feet; 3,890.5 meters), whose metamorphic rocks are often tinged with alpenglow in the evenings.
At Tioga Pass (9,945 feet; 3,031.2 meters) the road crests the state’s highest auto pass, and you leave Yosemite National Park. Continue on Rte. 120 past glacially carved Ellery Lake. Now the road begins a plunge down Lee Vining Canyon. Six miles [9.7 kilometers] along, the road runs between moraines—ridges of rocky debris left by passing glaciers—that stand as high as 700 feet [213.4 meters]. Stop for information at the Inyo National Forest Ranger Station (+1 760 873 2529). The route ends in just over a mile [1.6 kilometers] at U.S. 395 and Mono Lake, a haunting body of water that is 700,000 years old and studded with spires of white tufa.