Yosemite National Park, California :: HOW TO REACH THE PARK BY AUTOMOBILE

HOW TO REACH THE PARK BY AUTOMOBILE

All-Year State Highway.—The main paved route to Yosemite Valley from all California points, both north and south, is through Merced on the Pacific Highway through the San Joaquin Valley (Route 99). From Merced the State maintains the splendid paved All-Year Highway to El Portal (Route 140) and from El Portal the National Park Service maintains a similar highway to Yosemite Valley. It is 83 miles long and is the shortest, easiest, and most popular route from Merced, a high-gear modern highway, requiring 2½ hours to drive from Merced to Yosemite Valley. It is open and safely traveled every day of the year.

During the winter months visitors may obtain the latest accurate information on the snow conditions and winter sports at the automobile association offices. Visit the quaint old town of Mariposa, center of the gold rush in the days of ’49. See the oldest courthouse in the State, built in 1854.

By Seasonal Mountain Roads.—There are two other main routes across the Yosemite National Park leading into the Yosemite Valley, viz, the Wawona Road from the south and the Big Oak Flat Road from the north. The Tioga Road crosses the center of the park from east to west and connects with the Big Oak Flat Road. The Wawona Road is reached from Fresno, Madera, or Merced and points south and west of the park. The Big Oak Flat Road may be reached from Stockton, Modesto, Oakdale, and points north and west of the park. The Tioga Road may be reached on the east at Mono Lake from Lake Tahoe and points north, from Tonopah, Nev., and points east, from Bishop, Big Pine, and Mojave, and points south. On the west it connects with the Big Oak Flat Road at Carl Inn. Motorists using these roads will experience no serious difficulty if their cars are in good condition. In wet weather chains are advisable.

One of the many meadows in Yosemite.

The Tioga Road.—Up the east slope of the Sierra Nevadas, through the scenic, spectacular Leevining Canyon, and from east to west across the mountain-top paradise winds the Tioga Road, which has a romantic history. It was built by Chinese labor in 1881 to a gold mine east of the park, but as the mine did not pay the expenses of getting out the ore it was quickly abandoned and soon became impassable. In 1915 a group of public-spirited citizens, headed by the Honorable Stephen T. Mather, purchased it from the present owners of the old mining property and presented it to the Government. When a young man, Mark Twain visited Mono Lake on the Tioga Road. Following is his own inimitable description from Roughing It:

Mono Lake is a hundred miles in a straight line from the ocean—and between it and the ocean are one or two ranges of mountains—yet thousands of sea gulls go there every season to lay their eggs and rear their young. One would as soon expect to find sea gulls in Kansas. And in this connection let us observe another instance of nature’s wisdom. The islands in the lake being merely huge masses of lava, coated over with ashes and pumice stone, and utterly innocent of vegetation or anything that would burn; and sea gulls’ eggs being entirely useless to anyone unless they be cooked, nature has provided an unfailing spring of boiling water on the largest island, and you can put your eggs in there, and in 4 minutes you can boil them as hard as any statement I have made during the past 15 years. Within 10 feet of the boiling spring is a spring of pure, cold water, sweet and wholesome. So in that island you get your board and washing free of charge—and if nature had gone farther and furnished a nice American hotel clerk, who was crusty and disobliging, and didn’t know anything about the time-tables, or the railroad routes—or—anything—and was proud of it—I would not wish for a more desirable boarding house.

BY RAILROAD AND AUTO STAGE

Merced is the most popular railway and stage gateway to the park and is served by the Southern Pacific Railway, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, and stage lines.

At Merced, direct connections are made throughout the year with daily trains of the Yosemite Valley Railroad to El Portal, at which place passengers are transferred to stages on the last 14 miles to Yosemite Valley. In summer, through overnight sleeper cars from San Francisco and Los Angeles are available for train passengers daily. For information regarding schedules, rates, etc., visit your nearest ticket office or write to the passenger traffic manager of the Southern Pacific Lines, San Francisco, Calif., the Santa Fe Lines, Chicago, Ill., or the Yosemite Valley Railroad, Merced, Calif.

Automobile stages from Merced to Yosemite Valley are operated every day of the year. In summer, stages leave Fresno and Stockton for Yosemite Valley, the service being available daily from about June 1 to September 1. From July 4 to September 3, stages connect Yosemite Valley and Lake Tahoe with daily service via the Tioga Road. For information and rates, apply to the Yosemite Transportation System, Yosemite National Park, Calif.

BY AIRPLANE

For persons desiring to spend less time en route to the park, fast air service is available to Fresno, Calif. This is furnished by the United Air Lines on their Seattle to San Diego route, which connects with their transcontinental planes at Oakland and those of the American Airlines and TWA at Los Angeles.

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