visiting yosemite this time of year
 

My wife wants to take some friends to Yosemite this week. What's the more sane/less insane way to get to Yosemite Village from San Jose given the prevailing weather conditions:

1) CA120 from Manteca

2) CA140 from Merced

Along each route, where are we likely to hit chain restrictions?

Thanks,
Sixto
87 300D

Well they just got two feet of snow there and they lost power for a bit. Friend of mine is stuck in the park.

I thought the park was closed in the winter. It seems insane to even try to go there right now. I'd wait till mid to late spring when the roads are passable and the waterfalls are at their full strength.

I went in August the first time I went to Yosemite. Next time I go, I'll go in the Spring when the rivers and falls are running and the forests are not on fire.

Sixto, we went last year in early February and it was absolutely beautiful. Whatever you do BRING CHAINS!

They have different restrictions in the park they grade from 0 to 3. Going from normal to 2wd with chains, 4wd, or 4wd with chains.

The shuttle bus crashed into the Ram after dinner at the Ahwannee :( Then not 45 minutes later, we got the Ram stuck in a big freaking hole over at the Stables that required a Top Kick to winch us out of at midnight....that was fun.

Chains in the park ran us $125!

Where are you staying?

LMASO!!......Curtis, that was some luck you two had!!..........

The Ahwannee is that really nice hotel there, isn't it? I've been in the lobby, but that's about all.

Yes the Ahwanee is very nice. It's $400 a night on average. We stayed at the Yosemite Lodge since it's about a third of the cost when we got stranded in the park.

The restaurant is nice as well. I had a delicious venison for dinner.

The host on duty was a douchebag though. We walked in wearing casual clothes and they said 1 hour wait. We went back to the car in the snow, changed into dress casual clothes my girlfriend walked in, in her dress and primped hair to the same person at the host counter and asked about getting a table. He then said "we're preparing a table for you right now"....:rolleyes:

We came in through the Big Oak Flat gate along 120 Wednesday night after a day of caverns and mining towns. Chains to about 12 miles past that gate. We ditched the chains the first time we saw an end restriction sign and I had my eyes peeled for such signs. The chains were useful along about 80% of that stretch, 3 miles of which were behind a plow (yay!) until it pulled off. Didn't need chains anywhere else.

We stayed at the Cedar Lodge in Incline, about 8 miles west of the Arch Rock entrance along 140. The park was wonderful on Thursday. Sunny, cloudless skies meant sweatshirt weather. I was down to a t-shirt after trudging through knee deep snow. I can't imagine it looks a lot better in green than it does in white. Obviously not much hiking to do under these conditions and many attractions are closed for the season. Waterfalls were flowing but not the late spring deluge. Being antisocial, it was a blessing to be able to stop on the road at will to take in the scenery and not have traffic build up behind us. Not even Mastercard buys you that :) It seemed the only other people in the park were professional photographers.

We took the 140 back to civilization. I don't want to do Priest Grade in the Caravan again :eek:

Sixto
87 300D

Cedar Lodge? Cool. :) I did some work on the place right after it burned down. 1990 maybe? 1989?

A buddy of mine just came back from a trip last week, he showed me some absolute stunning pictures. I must be one of the most beautiful places on the planet.