ih

My wife, daughter and self will be in lake tahoe on 26th december.
we plan to leave on 27th noon to groveland and visit yosemite on 28th. How difficult is the drive from tahoe? In case of snow storm will it be possible to drive to SFO instead of yosemite?
I will carry snow tire chain to get into yosemite.

Michael

You probably will not be able to get to Yosemite via the Tioga pass. You'll have to go west over the Sierra to the foothills and follow the foothills (hwy 49) to 120 or 140. The former road goes over higher elevation and may have snow while the latter road might still be clear. At any rate, your drive over the Sierra will take you to the highest elevation, so if you can do that with no problems, you should have no problems in Yosemite.

Parrothead

There are 4 routes I can think of to get you from Tahoe to Yosemite, all of them will be either closed or very slow going if there is a snowstorm. Every route involves going over summits which are no place to be if it's snowing; I travel these roads often and have learned that Caltrans will close a pass or monitor every car going through during even the slightest of snowfalls. When Caltrans sets up a road check, you will be in stopped traffic lines for hours and may not get through for as many as 14 hours, which is my personal longest experience trying to cross the Sierras.

That said, even if there is no snow problem, I would not suggest taking the route down 395 to Tioga Pass; my suggestion is going over US 50, Echo Summit, from there you could go a couple of different ways to Groveland depending on other seasonal closures. If you can get over Echo Summit, then you can get to Placerville to 49 to 120 Groveland.

If there is snow and road closures, the only way from Tahoe to SFO is either over I-80 Donner Summit or US 50, Echo Summit; if they are under chain controls or closed then you cannot get to SFO by car. There is a slight chance that you could get over the pass to Reno and fly to SFO but it too may be closed for snow. Generally, if it's snowing you're stuck wherever you are until it quits.

Another piece of advice from someone who has learned the hard way, don't give up your hotel room until you're sure the passes are open and traffic is moving.

Michael

if they are under chain controls or closed then you cannot get to SFO by car.

The OP has chains, so getting through should be possible. A complete closure of I-80 is not that frequent, even in a snowstorm. At least that has been my experience over the last 20 years of going between SF and north Lake Tahoe to ski.

hazel1

I agree with Michael - even with chain control, it's not that big of deal. I-80 is not closed very often, only in the worst of storms, but Hwy 50 is not an interstate and therefore the chance of closure is higher. And if by SFO you mean the airport, not the city - do not attempt to drive from Lake Tahoe on the day of your departure - if there is a big snowstorm, even if the road is not closed, you could be in for a serious traffic delay and miss your flight. I know - it happened to me.

janisj

"That said, even if there is no snow problem, I would not suggest taking the route down 395 to Tioga Pass; "

Well we can certainly ALL agree w/ that since that route is totally/absolutely/100% impossible in Dec. (In fact - it is already closed for the season)

ih: It really makes no difference whether you go to YNP or SF - the same road/weather conditions will affect both journeys. The upshot is -- you really have no idea what to expect until a few days before your visit. But if I-80/Hwy 50 are open (which is most often the case w/ or w/o chain controls) - you can get to either Yosemite or to SF. You'd have to go west to nearly Sacramento and south to Yosemite -- or west all the way to SF.

If there is heavy snow, I personally wouldn't recommend hwy 88 (even if it is open) because that is one looooong slog on chains.

Parrothead

I am in Reno right now, I drove over Donner from Sacramento yesterday around noon. It was barely snowing on the summit for about a 2 mile stretch, otherwise it was just raining. Caltrans had a chain control setup in Truckee heading westbound. There was an 8 mile backup of cars heading west. They weren't moving, it looked like a parking lot. Last winter, Donner Summit was closed many times, usually in the AM and late PM hours. If the snow gets heavy, they most certainly will close it or escort cars over in small groups. It can take hours to go 25 miles.

We seem to disagree about what it's like on I-80 in the winter. But I can tell you that on Christmas Day 2008, the road was closed and we were not able to make a family party in the Bay Area; same thing happened to us on New Years Eve 2007. Maybe I'm just unlucky. I acknowledge that Caltrans works to keep Donner open as much as possible but they don't have any problem setting up chain controls that require every car to go through a single lane that causes backups that turn a 2 hour drive from Reno to Sacramento into hours and hours of painfully slow traffic. It happens all the time. I've been stuck up there in long backups so many times over the years that now my choice is to wait it out in a warm place.

janisj

We all agree. The weather/road conditions/traffic can be horrible -- or not. But there is no way of telling until the time of the trip. If I-80/Hwy 50 are a mess (or open and clear), it won't make one bit of difference if ih is headed to Yosemite or to SF. The same conditions would affect both drives.

Horror stories now will have no effect on what is happening Christmas week. Could be a difficult drive - or a clear shot.