The recording at 209/372-0200 does not care about your plans. Press 1, then 1 again, and a recorded voice reads the road list in the same even tone whether Tioga is open or it shut at 6 a.m. while you were asleep in Lee Vining with a full tank and a reservation on the west side.
That is the trap with Tioga Road, the 45.5 miles of Highway 120 that the Park Service plows each spring from Crane Flat to the Tioga Pass Entrance. People treat its closing like a calendar date. It is a weather event.
On the far side of that gate, the next option is not close. When Tioga is closed, the Park Service's own detour from Lee Vining to Yosemite runs north on US 395 to Minden, Nevada, and around on US 50: 390 miles and about 8 hours, by its count.
Why this matters right now
The 2026 closing season has already started on the high Sierra passes. On October 13, 2026, Caltrans District 10 reopened Ebbetts Pass (State Route 4) between Lake Alpine and Raymond Meadows after a temporary closure. Ten days later it did it again for all three of its passes: its October 26 advisory says Sonora Pass (SR 108), Ebbetts Pass (SR 4) and Monitor Pass (SR 89) reopened on Friday, October 23, once crews judged them safe. The same district's storm-prep release, also dated October 26, says crews are clearing drains ahead of El Niño rain and atmospheric rivers.
As of 5:10 p.m. on October 27, 2026, Caltrans's highway information line listed no restrictions on SR 108, SR 89 or SR 120 in the Sierra, and the Park Service's Current Conditions page (updated October 23) listed Tioga Road as open, with no overnight parking along the road or in its lots. Every campground on Tioga Road was already closed for the season on that page: Tuolumne Meadows, Porcupine Flat, Yosemite Creek, White Wolf, Tamarack Flat and Crane Flat.
When does Tioga Pass close? What 26 years of NPS dates say
The Park Service publishes Tioga Road's opening and closing dates back to 1980 on its Historical Seasonal Opening and Closing Dates page, with a downloadable dataset. We pulled the closing dates for the 26 seasons from 2000 through 2025. All figures in this section are our math from that dataset.
| Tioga Road closing, 2000 to 2025 (NPS data, our math) | Result |
|---|---|
| Median closing date | November 12 |
| Earliest closing | October 17, 2004 |
| Closed before November 1 | 5 of 26 seasons (2003, 2004, 2008, 2021, 2022) |
| Still open after November 11 (Veterans Day) | 14 of 26 seasons |
| Still open after November 15 | 9 of 26 seasons |
| Still open after November 26 (Thanksgiving 2026) | 4 of 26 seasons |
| Still open after December 1 | 3 of 26 seasons |
| Last three seasons | Nov 15, 2023; Nov 11, 2024; Nov 12, 2025 |
Two notes on reading that table. First, the Park Service's own summary rows use a different window, 2004 to 2023, and give a median of November 14 and an average of November 17. Second, two rows don't square with the page's notes. The dataset lists the 2010 season closing on January 17 and the 2011 season on December 31, but the notes say the road reopened from December 16, 2011 to January 17, 2012. Our reading: 2011 first closed before December 16, and the 2010 row's January 17 may be that 2012 date. The page doesn't settle it. Dropping either row leaves the median at November 12; dropping both puts it between November 11 and 12 (our math). They are also 2 of the 4 seasons in the Thanksgiving row.
The plain-English version: if your trip is on Veterans Day, Tioga being open is close to a coin flip on 26 years of history (14 of 26). If it is Thanksgiving weekend, plan as if it will be closed (open in 4 of 26).
Tioga Pass closing date 2026: what we know
Nothing official yet, because the Park Service does not announce a closing date ahead of time. Its Tioga page says the road "is typically open to vehicles from late May or June until sometime in November." This year it opened May 15, 2026, at 8 a.m., per the park's May 13 update.
Once it closes for the season, plan on it staying closed. The page's notes name two reopenings: December 23, 1999 to January 1, 2000, and December 16, 2011 to January 17, 2012.
The honest part: "Tioga Pass is closed" means two different gates
Tioga is two agencies' roads stitched together at the Tioga Pass Entrance Station.
Inside the park, the Park Service runs Tioga Road from Crane Flat to the entrance. Outside it, the same Highway 120 belongs to Caltrans District 9, and the Park Service's winter-roads page says that stretch "is often closed in winter from Tioga Pass to five miles west of Lee Vining." The Park Service's plowing page says the same thing from the other direction: Caltrans plows Highway 120 from Lee Vining to the Tioga Pass Entrance.
The two agencies do not keep the same dates. Caltrans publishes its own Mountain Pass Closures table, and its "Tioga Pass, SR 120" closing dates run later than the Park Service's Tioga Road dates in every one of the 7 seasons both lists cover:
| Season | NPS Tioga Road closed | Caltrans SR 120 closed | Gap (our math) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019/2020 | Nov 19 | Nov 27 | 8 days |
| 2020/2021 | Nov 5 | Nov 25 | 20 days |
| 2021/2022 | Oct 21 | Dec 16 | 56 days |
| 2022/2023 | Oct 31 | Nov 17 | 17 days |
| 2023/2024 | Nov 15 | Nov 21 | 6 days |
| 2024/2025 | Nov 11 | Nov 25 | 14 days |
| 2025/2026 | Nov 12 | Dec 19 | 37 days |
What that means at the wheel is our reading, not an agency statement: a Caltrans "open" on SR 120 can still dead-end at a closed park gate, and the park gate is the one that decides whether you cross the Sierra. Reopening shows the same split. Caltrans District 9 announced SR 120 West open to the park's east entrance on March 23, 2026, while its release noted that the entrance, Tioga Pass and Tioga Road stayed closed. The park did not open Tioga Road until May 15.
So when you check, check both, and trust the park for the crossing:
- Tioga Road (NPS): the park's Tioga plowing and road page, the Current Conditions page, or 209/372-0200 (press 1, then 1). The Current Conditions page says it shows only planned or long-term closures and sends you to the phone line for the most up-to-date conditions.
- SR 120 east of the park, plus SR 108, SR 4 and SR 89 (Caltrans): QuickMap at quickmap.dot.ca.gov, or the Caltrans road line at 1-800-427-7623. Caltrans District 10 also says its advisories go out on Highway Advisory Radio at 530, 1610 and 1670 AM and on the changeable message signs near the passes.
Sonora, Ebbetts and Monitor: the passes that stay open longer
When Tioga shuts, the next crossings north are Sonora Pass (SR 108), Ebbetts Pass (SR 4) and Monitor Pass (SR 89). All three are Caltrans highways, not park roads, and their winter closing dates come from that same Caltrans table.
| Season | NPS Tioga Road closed | Sonora Pass (SR 108) | Ebbetts Pass (SR 4) | Monitor Pass (SR 89) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019/2020 | Nov 19 | Dec 2 | Dec 2 | Dec 2 |
| 2020/2021 | Nov 5 | Dec 15 | Dec 15 | Dec 16 |
| 2021/2022 | Oct 21 | Dec 16 | Dec 16 | Dec 16 |
| 2022/2023 | Oct 31 | Nov 18 | Nov 18 | Dec 8 |
| 2023/2024 | Nov 15 | Jan 2 | Jan 2 | Jan 2 |
| 2024/2025 | Nov 11 | Dec 16 | Dec 16 | Feb 18 |
| 2025/2026 | Nov 12 | Dec 25 | Dec 26 | Dec 26 |
In all 7 of those seasons, Sonora Pass closed for the winter after Tioga Road did. The gap ran from 13 days (2019) to 56 days (2021), with a median of 40 days (our math from the NPS and Caltrans tables). The earliest Sonora and Ebbetts winter closing in the Caltrans list is November 18, 2022. Seven seasons is a short sample, so treat it as a pattern, not a promise.
Spring runs the other way. Monitor Pass is usually the first of the three back: Caltrans District 9 reopened it at noon on March 5, 2026, and called it "the first highway in Mono County to reopen for the season." In the Caltrans table, Sonora and Ebbetts reopened between April 30 and June 9 across those seasons. (The table leaves Ebbetts's 2026 reopening date blank, so we are not quoting one.)
Temporary closures are not winter closures
October 2026 already showed the catch. Sonora, Ebbetts and Monitor do not wait for the "winter closure" to shut on you. Caltrans closes them temporarily when conditions make them unsafe and reopens them when crews judge them safe, which is exactly what happened on October 13 (Ebbetts) and October 23 (all three). The seasonal dates in the table are the day Caltrans stopped reopening, not the first day you could get turned around.
Check QuickMap the morning you cross and again at the last town with signal.
What a 4x4 actually changes here
Not the gate. Four-wheel drive matters in the days before and after a closure, when Caltrans has chain controls up instead of a gate.
California's rules are worth knowing cold. At R2, Caltrans exempts four-wheel and all-wheel drive vehicles with snow-tread tires on all four wheels, but they must carry chains or traction devices in the chain control area. At R3 there are no exceptions, and Caltrans notes that a highway will often close before R3 is called. We walked through every level, plus what the 2025 F-150, Bronco and Tacoma manuals allow, in our snow chains for 4x4 trucks guide. Check your manual for approved chain sizes before you buy a set.
Honest warts in the data
A few things the numbers will not tell you.
Our median is not a forecast. It is the middle of 26 different winters.
The Caltrans comparison is 7 seasons, not 26. That is what Caltrans posts on its current table. Its longer historical PDF was returning a "file unavailable" page when we checked on October 27, 2026, so we did not use it.
The two agencies measure different things. Caltrans lists SR 120 as a highway segment; the Park Service lists Tioga Road inside the park. Some of the gap in the Tioga table is the agencies, not the weather.
Tioga, Sonora, Ebbetts and Monitor: quick verdict
| Pass | Who runs it | Typical winter close (source window) | Who to check | Best use in late fall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tioga (Tioga Road, Yosemite) | NPS inside the park; Caltrans D9 outside | Median Nov 12 (our math from NPS, 2000 to 2025) | NPS Tioga page or 209/372-0200 | Plan it for October or early November; have a backup |
| Sonora (SR 108) | Caltrans (D10 and D9 releases) | Nov 18 to Jan 2 (Caltrans, 7 seasons) | QuickMap or 1-800-427-7623 | First backup when Tioga shuts |
| Ebbetts (SR 4) | Caltrans D10 | Nov 18 to Jan 2 (Caltrans, 7 seasons) | QuickMap or 1-800-427-7623 | Second backup; watch for temporary closures |
| Monitor (SR 89) | Caltrans (D10 and D9 releases) | Dec 2 to Feb 18 (Caltrans, 7 seasons) | QuickMap or 1-800-427-7623 | Links SR 4 to US 395; usually first to reopen in spring |
Who should plan around Tioga, and who should not
Plan a Tioga crossing if you are going before about November 8 and can move your day if a storm shows up. In 17 of 26 seasons, the road was still open after November 8.
Build your trip around Sonora or Ebbetts instead if you are crossing the Sierra the week of Thanksgiving or later, or if you cannot afford to lose a day. Tioga was open past November 26 in only 4 of 26 seasons, while Sonora closed after Tioga Road in all 7 recent seasons we compared.
Skip the high passes entirely and take US 50 or I-80 if your trip is in late December or later, if you are on summer tires, or if you do not carry chains your manual approves.
If you were planning to camp along Tioga Road this fall, you are already too late for the park campgrounds. Our campground matchmaker and off-road campground directory can point you at sites off the east side and lower down. If you want dirt this winter instead of a pass, our best 4x4 trails to drive in winter list is built for that.
Bottom Line
When does Tioga Pass close? On 26 years of Park Service data, the median is November 12, and 5 of those 26 seasons closed before November 1 (our math), so an October or early November crossing is the safe bet and a Thanksgiving crossing is a long shot. Watch the park, not just Caltrans, for Tioga itself. For backups, Sonora, Ebbetts and Monitor closed later than Tioga Road in all 7 recent seasons we compared (our math), but October 2026 already showed they close temporarily too. Check both agencies the morning you go and keep the long way loaded.
Internal Links
- Snow chains for 4x4 trucks
- Best 4x4 trails to drive in winter
- Campground matchmaker
- Off-road campground directory
Sources
- National Park Service, Yosemite, Historical Seasonal Opening and Closing Dates (page updated Jan 16, 2026; dataset downloaded Oct 27, 2026): https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/seasonal.htm
- National Park Service, Yosemite, Tioga and Glacier Point Roads Plowing and Road Opening Update (May 13, 2026): https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tioga.htm
- National Park Service, Yosemite, Winter Road Closures and Driving Directions When Tioga Road Is Closed: https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/wroads.htm
- National Park Service, Yosemite, Current Conditions (updated Oct 23, 2026): https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/conditions.htm
- Caltrans, Winter Driving Tips, Mountain Pass Closures table (checked Oct 27, 2026): https://dot.ca.gov/travel/winter-driving-tips
- Caltrans, Chain Controls: https://dot.ca.gov/travel/winter-driving-tips/chain-controls
- Caltrans District 10, Winter Pass Traffic Advisory, Temporary Pass Closure Updates (Oct 26, 2026): https://dot.ca.gov/caltrans-near-me/district-10/district-10-news/winter-pass-traffic-advisory-10-26-2026
- Caltrans District 10, Ebbetts Pass Re-Open to Traffic (Oct 13, 2026): https://dot.ca.gov/caltrans-near-me/district-10/district-10-news/winter-pass-traffic-advisory-ebbetts-10-13-2026
- Caltrans District 10, Caltrans Begins Storm Prep (Oct 26, 2026): https://dot.ca.gov/caltrans-near-me/district-10/district-10-news/caltrans-begins-storm-prep-nino-approaches-valley-nevada
- Caltrans District 9, State Route 120 W Reopens from Winter Closure (Mar 23, 2026): https://dot.ca.gov/caltrans-near-me/district-9/district-9-news/2026_4_15-120-w-reopens
- Caltrans District 9, State Route 89 (Monitor Pass) Reopens from Winter Closure (Mar 5, 2026): https://dot.ca.gov/caltrans-near-me/district-9/district-9-news/2026-3-05-state-route-89-reopens-from-winter-closure
- Caltrans road information for SR 108, SR 4, SR 89 and SR 120 (as of Oct 27, 2026, 5:10 p.m.): https://roads.dot.ca.gov/