Sunrise light on a grove of tufa towers emerging from the water of Mono Lake with soft green and dusty-red wild grasses in the foreground, Canada geese in the shallow water with reflections of the rocky towers, and desert hills in the distance.

Lower Tioga Road gate opens

The lower Tioga Road gate on Highway 120, four miles from Highway 395, is open and the road is accessible as far as the Yosemite National Park entrance 12 miles up the road. As of Friday evening, Caltrans didn’t even have its Website updated yet—it was last updated for this highway on May 13th. See it here on monolake.org  first!

The snow at the pass is very firm, and averages 5-10 feet deep. Watch for rocks on the road. It has newly painted lines as far as Blue Slide.

The road is still closed within the park, however efforts are being made to open it by Memorial Day weekend.