My husband and I are considering a long weekend trip to Yosemite in January. We've been a few times during other seasons, but never in winter. I am thinking about taking the Yarts bus into the valley and staying at the Lodge. This way we could avoid the possibility of having to drive on snowy roads.

Has anyone taken Yarts? We would be coming from the SF Bay Area and I thought we could drive to the Merced Amtrak station and catch the bus there. I saw that there is also a park and ride at Midpines, which I think is only at about 1500 ft elevation, so generally below that snow line. That looks like another reasonable option.

Any thoughts? Any experiences to share?

Thanks.

ttt

Hi J_Correa,

We've done a day trip into Yosemite in the winter a couple of years ago. It was SO BEAUTIFUL! Here are a few of my pictures:

http://www.utahtea.lithium.com/pages...28yosemite.htm

My DS and his wife go every December to celebrate the anniversary of DS's proposal. They have had to use snow chains to enter but they clear the roads so fast that they didn't need them to exit the park one year.

I've never taken the YARTS, but I think I'd rather DH drive. You might call to make sure they run if there is heavy snow.

Utahtea

I love, LOVE Yosemite in the winter. But have never used YARTS so can't help you there. I stayed at the Lodge, skied one day at Badger pass and spent the rest of the time in the Valley.

I'd just drive into the Valley - never had a problem.

Terrific pictures Utahtea.

I love Yosemite most in the winter. Drive in on 140, rather than 120. It gets icey patches and can be really tough to navigate in a snowstorm. Had a narrow miss when I was the one fortunate car that ran into a snowbank instead of all the other cars.