My folks were RVing through the Sierras with their last stop being a campsite in Wawona, a small town inside Yosemite. I took this as an opportunity to go ride to Yosemite using a new entrance for me, and to go ride one of my favorite roads, Tioga Road / CA 120.
The first day was fairly boring. I left later than I wanted so I hit some of the Friday afternoon rush hour. To make things worse there was a wreck earlier where the highway narrowed into a smaller twisty mountain highway. I had fun lane splitting for 30~45 minutes, including zooming past my siblings who joined on this trip, left before I did, but were stuck in traffic. The views of the fields before reaching the Sierras as well as the Sierras themselves were just gorgeous with the setting sun. I ended up getting to the RV a good hour before my siblings.
On Saturday I was given permission from the fam to fuck off and ride Tioga Road. Being inside the park made this awesome and super simple. I left the campsite at 9 am, was down in the valley by 10 having seen very few cars, and made it to the end by Mono Lake before noon. The lack of cars made the ride very satisfying but didn’t help the want to go fast. The only thing I hit was a sizeable rock hiding in the shadow at the end of a turn but thankfully kept everything upright. I ate my lunch sandwich by Tioga Lake, taking in the views, before heading back towards the camp site. I did get stuck behind a convoy of 20~30 harleys doing 30mph soon after my lunch so I stopped for a short hike in the Tuolumne meadows to check out some soda springs. I made it back to the RV a few hours before the fam who were still climbing/hiking so I walked over to the river by the RV to snap a few pics. I also did a lot of just lounging around.
On Sunday morning I packed up and headed home. In typical fashion I somehow almost couldn’t pack all my stuff back into my saddle bags, somehow something of mine got bigger? I noticed the line to get into the South Entrance of Yosemite was already at 30 minutes when I left at 9 am. Once again most of the ride was uneventful except for the bit near the San Luis Reservoir. This area is known for its high gusts and winds which were in full effect when I rode through. I felt like I had to turn my bike hard to one side just to keep going straight against the winds. Kinda problematic when the gust temporarily stops then kicks back up 2 seconds later. If you watch the videos just keep in mind the horizon is supposed to be horizontal and the tilt is not caused by my mounting the camera badly.
