Yosemite to Lake Tahoe to San Francisco-Help!
 

We will be in Yosemite in mid June and had planned to drive over Tioga Road with stops in Tuolomme Meadows, Mono Lake and possibly Bodie before arriving in Lake Tahoe. This would get us to Lake Tahoe late day, but given maximum daylight, still seemed possible to enjoy a room with balcony on the lake. Planned to tour the lake the next day, spend one more night and then head to San Franciso early the next morning.

My dilemna

1. Someone pointed out that Tioga road may not be open in mid June.

2. Don't really want to stay in South Lake Tahoe amidst congestion, but the rate for a lakeview room is $235 at Sunnyside.

Is it "worth" spending a day+ in Lake Tahoe given the extra drive and two nights which could be spent elsewhere if tioga road is not open? If it is, it's an absolute.

Worth spending this amount of money to be lakefront in this location?

Other suggestions? Thanks,

IMHO, I would much prefer to spend time in the Carmel/Monterey area on the way to SF as opposed to Lake Tahoe. There is much more of a variety of sights and things to see and do plus the beautiful rocky coastline.

personally, i wouldn't be sad if i had never gone to monterey, carmel is cute but lake tahoe and the surrounding mountains are a beautiful world of their own. the lake is soo clear. i would definately spend the money on the lakefront room, doesn't sound like you will be going back there soon so, definately worth it.

call california highway patrol or yosemite lodge and ask them if tioga will be open in june. there shouldn't be snow so don't know why it would be closed but tell yosemite you want to arrive via tioga, they will know what june weather is like. everybody that works at yosemite have been there years, they will all know. yosemite is another treasure. its a beautiful drive from yosemite to tahoe.

Here's the NPS website with Tioga road status. You are correct - some years it doesn't open up until late June.

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tioga.htm

and historical opening dates

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tiogaopen.htm

"<i>call california highway patrol or yosemite lodge and ask them if tioga will be open in june. there shouldn't be snow so don't know why it would be closed but tell yosemite you want to arrive via tioga, they will know what june weather is like. everybody that works at yosemite have been there years, they will all know.</i>"

The CHP and the Lodge absolutely 100% have NO idea yet what date the road will open. It makes no difference how long someone has lived/worked in the Valley. Mid June is a very real possibility.

Tioga Pass rd closes <u>every</u> year -- usually from late October through mid-May, but as early as Sept and as late as July 1st is also possible. See the link J62 posted.

Meant to add -- since they had a winter storm just last week, the bets are this year may be later rather than earlier . . . .

Yep, I was just at our cabin up in the High Sierra near Yosemite and there was snow on our deck when we first got there. So my bet would be on it opening later this year.

The issue isn't the weather in May/June- it can be sunny and dry. The road crews need to clear the 10+ feet (or more) of accumulated snow over many miles of road across the pass.

It takes them weeks, sometimes months to clear the entire road. As you see on the link I posted, rock slides, downed trees, or other conditions can make this very slow going.

sorry, janisj, i was just telling her what i would do. DUH, just asking for an educated guess from CHP or yosemite. if i didn't know better i would think you have something against my input. guess im not as brilliant as you but im definately well traveled.
j62, thanks for your post, now the sitation is clear.

There's no way to predict the opening of Tioga at this time. If you can wait a few weeks, the situation will be a lot clearer. As long as we don't get more storms, there's a real good chance the road will be open by the time of your visit.

If it's not, there are other ways to get to Tahoe and mid-June is not exactly high season there. You will be able to find accomodations even last minute - maybe not lakefront though.

While some people recommend Monterey/Carmel over Tahoe, remember that the US Open will be played there in mid-June and might conflict with your dates.

For Tahoe lakefront lodging I highly recommend the Crown Resort in Kings Beach. For the past 10yrs we have stayed there every year. http://www.tahoecrown.com/lake-front-lodging#

But we also drive to Sunnyside for lunches or dinners. Great place in the summer.

goldie13 wrote
if i didn't know better i would think you have something against my input. guess im not as brilliant as you but im definately well traveled.



I don't care for your input either. You seem to think you know more than you actually do which is a really bad habit to get into here.