Sierra Road to Yosemite Will Open Friday

After a one-month delay, Tioga Pass Road through Yosemite National Park’s high country will open Friday, park Supt. B. J. Griffin and Caltrans said.

It will be the latest opening in the history of the trans-Sierra route, which is barricaded before the start of winter. The opening was delayed by a record late-season snowpack and an avalanche earlier this month that killed a road worker.

Although the road will be open to motorists, the high country remains buried under a blanket of lingering snow, which is bad news for campers and backpackers.

Many trails at elevations above 8,000 feet remain inaccessible because of snow. The Tuolumne Meadows Lodge, campground, service station and convenience store will continue to be closed, the National Park Service said.

Still, news of the road’s opening was welcomed in communities in the eastern Sierra, which rely on tourist traffic along U.S. 395 lured by access to Yosemite through 9,941-foot-high Tioga Pass.

Business in Lee Vining, the tiny town that sits below the pass, has been down as much as 75%.

“It’s been a long, tough winter,” said Ralph McMullen of the Mammoth Lakes Visitors Bureau. “We’re elated that the road is finally opening and in time for the Fourth of July weekend.”

Opening of the road is expected to relieve some of the crowded conditions in Yosemite Valley. Since Memorial Day, park rangers have had to turn away thousands of visitors at the gate every weekend because of congestion in Yosemite Valley.

“Opening the pass should help disperse more people throughout the park,” Ranger Kendell Thompson said. “But until the high country is fully accessible, we’re still going to see too many people concentrating in the valley.”

Vehicles weighing more than 15,000 pounds will be prohibited from using Tioga Pass Road for at least two weeks because the ground is saturated, the park service said. Officials also urged visitors to be careful of icy patches and rocks.