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.

Tioga Pass closing Sunday, November 1 at 4:00pm, possibly for the season

As we enjoy the last rays of warm autumn sun ahead of a forecast winter storm, we got word from our friends at Yosemite National Park that Tioga Pass will be closing at 4:00pm on Sunday, November 1.

The pass has closed and opened a few times already this month as the weather has turned cooler and we’ve gotten some rain, but this time it’s likely that once the pass closes on Sunday it may remain closed for the rest of the winter season. Be sure to check road conditions before traveling to the Eastern Sierra, as other mountain passes may also begin to close.

The Sierra crest got its first dusting of snow this season last weekend. Photo by Bartshe Miller.
The Sierra crest got its first dusting of snow this season last weekend. We hope it’s the first of much more to come. Photo by Bartshe Miller.

3 Comments

  1. Fantastic memories of driving through Tioga Pass on our way Fishcamp in 2001. The pass had only been open a week. My holiday in California will live with me for ever.

  2. It seems odd to me to be closing it just to close it. If it’s snowing I get it. But to just set a date & time seems silly to me.

  3. Hi Linda, the pass is being closed because of incoming winter weather (the Monday forecast looks very exciting!). If there was no snow predicted, the Park Service would keep it open. But it’s safer to close the pass so that motorists aren’t stuck up there in the high country when it does begin snowing.