Today was the last day of Tioga Road being closed to auto traffic, so I drove up for the day. I really missed not being able to ride up MacKenzie Pass in central Oregon, so this was my opportunity to get the same experience.
I started riding about 10:30 am at the Tuolumne Grove parking area. While I have been doing some riding this year, I haven’t done any climbing, and I wasn’t prepared for long climbs. They are not particularly steep, but with the altitude and poor conditioning it was slow going.
At 15 miles, I gained a summit at 8,300 ft. Next was a descent to Yosemite Creek, and I doubted my ability to climb back out so I made my turnaround there. The ride back was quick except for about a 300′ climb.
The temperature was perfect. There was snow all along the ride, ranging from very patchy at the beginning to solid snow cover at 8,000 ft. The one small lake I passed (Siesta Lake) was still half-covered in ice.
I took very few photos. After all, the purpose of the trip was a bike ride.
Beautiful! I can almost smell the fresh, crisp air…. Ahhhh….
Wow, I bet that was so nice!
[…] in Yosemite (which I knew had been completely plowed, but not yet open) was open to bikes. I did this ride last year (although 7 weeks later in the year) and enjoyed it enough to want to go […]