Tiny Lee Vining is known primarily as the eastern gateway to Yosemite National Park (summer only) and the location of vast and desolate Mono Lake. Pick up supplies at the general store year-round, or stop here for lunch or dinner before or after a drive through the high country. In winter, the town is all but deserted, except for the ice climbers who come to scale frozen waterfalls.
Most people enter Yosemite National Park from the west, having driven out from the Bay Area or Los Angeles. The eastern entrance on Tioga Pass Road (Highway 120 off Highway 395), however, provides stunning, sweeping views of the High Sierra. Gray rocks shine in the bright sun, with scattered, small vegetation sprinkled about the mountainside.
To drive from Lee Vining to Tuolumne Meadows is an unforgettable experience, but keep in mind that the road is closed for at least seven months of the year.
