Tioga Road

Tioga Road, the backdoor to Yosemite National Park that vanishes under snow each winter, is open again for travelers. The road, also known as California Highway 120, reopened on May 14, two weeks earlier than it did last year. It generally remains open through early November, depending on weather. Meanwhile, park service crews on Half Dome have strung cables that aid summer hikers on the steep final stretch of the trail to the top, 8,842 feet above sea level.

Tioga Pass through Yosemite National Park was closed Saturday night during a hunt for a San Francisco parolee who is suspected of kidnaping and assaulting a park employee who picked him up while he was hitchhiking. A warrant was issued for Phil Lund, 56, who allegedly pulled a stun gun on a campground attendant Friday afternoon after she agreed to give him a ride from a campground on the valley floor to the nearby town of El Portal, park spokeswoman Kris Fister said.

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.

With the park's high country wildfires in retreat, Yosemite Valley will reopen to summer vacationers at noon Monday without unusual restrictions, Supt. Michael Finley announced Wednesday. The only east-west route through Yosemite, Tioga Road, will open Friday at noon. The road, part of California 120, is a vital motoring link across the Sierra Nevada for tourists and mountain residents. Campgrounds and services along the road will also reopen.

The Tioga Pass Road through the Sierra Nevada was closed for the winter on Friday because of snow, officials at Yosemite National Park said. Spokeswoman Marla LaCass said the road, also known as California 120, was closed later than usual because the snows have come late to the mountains this year. The last time officials waited until December to close the road was in 1980, she said. The road will remain closed until spring thaws make it passable again, she said.