![]() ![]() The short answer on this question is that there is a very good chance both roads will be open in early November and a very good chance both roads will be closed by early December. The median opening date for Tioga Road is May 21 (1996 to 2015). The median opening date for the Glacier Point Road is May 16 (1996 to 2015). That list gives more details, but here are the running tallies for how common it has been for the roads to be opened by a given date. If you’re a gambler and you want to play the odds, you can make some guesses based the NPS list of opening and closing dates. This video from an April flyover from 2017 (a big snow year) shows the scope of the task. See below the videos to see what the odds are that a given road is opened or closed by a given date. Still, you can run some basic calculations. Next year could be the snowiest year on record or the driest year on record. ![]() As all the investment houses say, past performance is no guarantee of future results. If you’re a bit of a gambler, you can make an educated guess based on the full list of opening and closing dates since 1996. Note: In 2022, Glacier Point Road will be closed for the entire season due to road construction. In other words, there is no scheduled opening date and we usually do not know when the road will open until shortly before it does. In 2021, for example, we had a drought year, but clearing Glacier Point Road was slowed by the large number of downed trees from the Mono Wind event. Sometimes in a low-snow year, it can still take time to get the roads open. The roads close when we get snow and they reopen when the plows punch through. In general, there are no set dates for any of these events. This is the first time in four years that the park hasn’t required advance booking for summertime day-tripper visits to the valley.Update, May 27, 2022: Tioga Pass Road is open for the season. But this year’s heavy Sierra snowpack - 244% of normal on April 1 - has rangers reluctant to make any prediction for this summer.Īnother factor for summer travelers to weigh: Yosemite Valley may be unusually crowded this summer, especially on weekends. Tioga Road, snowbound in winter, often opens in May or June after mild winters, June or July after snowy ones. The opening date also remains unknown for the park’s most popular seasonal route, Tioga Road, which connects Yosemite to the Owens Valley near Lee Vining and Mono Lake. Even after reopening, rangers say, 30-minute delays are likely at first. Glacier Point Road was closed all last summer for construction. This is the seasonal route that gives visitors access to the classic view of Half Dome from Glacier Point, about 7,200 feet above sea level and 3,200 feet above the floor of Yosemite Valley. Glacier Point Road is expected to open “no earlier than July, probably later,” Yosemite’s website reports. Meanwhile, road crews are working toward summer openings for Glacier Point Road and Tioga Road, but because of lingering snow and construction, dates remain uncertain. (The road from the plaza to the trees is open only to shuttle buses and private vehicles with disability placards.) That service takes visitors from Mariposa Grove Welcome Plaza - near the park’s south entrance - to Mariposa Grove, home to more than 500 giant sequoia trees. Today, the park is starting summer shuttle service on Mariposa Grove Road. And it means visitors can follow loop itineraries, entering from the south entrance and returning by way of the west entrance. Though the reopening of Big Oak Flat Road doesn’t change northbound driving directions for most visitors from Southern California - who enter the park by way of Oakhurst and Highway 41 - it is likely to ease traffic circulation in the park. (While Highway 120 has been closed, Bay Area visitors have been reaching the park via Highway 140, a detour of roughly 30 miles.) The cables that climbers use to summit Half Dome, for instance, usually are put in place in May, but that hasn’t happened yet. ![]() The snows have forced many changes and delays as the park gears up for summer. ![]()
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