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Sonora Pass or Tioga Pass? Which road is right for you?
Highway 108 over Sonora Pass and Highway 120 over Tioga Pass are the two highest paved roads in the Sierra Nevada range. Both offer beautiful and dramatic mountain scenery. Both roads connect US 395 in the Eastern Sierra with State Route 49 in the western foothills. And both cross the Sierra Crest.
Each pass offers a very different experience for travelers.
Sonora Pass
For anyone who enjoys riding a motorcycle or even driving a car in the mountains, Sonora Pass is a much better choice than Tioga Pass.
Sonora Pass has spectacular scenery, tight technical turns, steep switchbacks, maximum grades approaching 26 percent, and typically light traffic. It’s a fantastic motorcycle road. It’s our favorite Sierra mountain pass.
Because Sonora Pass is so steep and challenging you probably won’t see any RVs on the road. So you are unlikely to get stuck behind slow-moving motorhomes or vehicles pulling travel trailers. No 18-wheelers, either. If, by chance, you do encounter an RV or a big truck, its driver is almost certainly lost. And probably on the verge of panic.
Among people who do not actually enjoy driving, Sonora Pass has achieved a reputation as “dangerous” or “scary.” If that’s you, then you probably should avoid this pass. But we know that’s not you.
You like challenging, twisty, turny, technical roads. You have skill, confidence, and you make good decisions. You manage to stay in your lane on even the sharpest turns. You don’t ride or drive too fast for conditions. You can stop in plenty of time when you encounter a rock in the road on a blind curve.
You use your rearview mirrors. When another vehicle comes up from behind, you immediately begin looking for a safe place to pull over and let the faster traffic go by. You don’t feel the need to enforce your driving choices on other people.
You are a responsible grown-up and you act like one.
Sonora Pass is calling your name.
Tioga Pass
Crossing the Sierra via Highway 120 and Tioga Pass will take you through Yosemite National Park. The park gets more than four million visitors a year. It’s a beautiful place. A national treasure. Definitely worth seeing if you have never been before.
But riding a motorcycle over Tioga Pass usually means getting stuck in slow-moving traffic. It means following white-knuckled visitors in rented motorhomes. It means riding twisty mountain roads that are crowded with thousands of other vehicles, mostly driven by people who live where the roads are predominantly straight and flat.
Riding Tioga Pass is frustrating, more often than not.
If you are on a bike, and you still decide to ride through Yosemite and over Tioga Pass, dial your expectations back. A lot. It almost certainly won’t be an epic ride. If, by some sequence of miracles, traffic is light and other drivers are all skilled and courteous, be grateful for your outstanding luck. Maybe buy a lottery ticket.
Your best chance to enjoy Tioga Pass by motorcycle is to ride it in the late autumn. After the summer hoards have left, after the peak of the beautiful fall colors and the droves of people who come up to see them. And before winter arrives.
Try riding Tioga Pass in late October or early November.
Winter closures
Whether you decide on Highway 120 and Tioga Pass or Highway 108 and Sonora Pass, it’s important to know that both roads are closed in the winter. If you plan to travel from December through April or May, look at other routes over the Sierra.
Our interactive Sierra passes map is a great tool to help you find the right road for your travels.
Check our Weather page to learn a lot more about the climate and seasons in the Sierra.
Read our Road Closures page to learn more about temporary and seasonal road closures on the Sierra passes.
I have always loved the Tioga pass, but was ‘forced’ to try the Sonora (did not have a Yosemite pass). I much prefer the Tioga because of it’s more dramatic scenery. In addition Tuolomne Meadow is a place worth visiting.
In short, Sonora is technical and thrilling with delicate sierra scenery, and Tioga is expansive, speedy, and the Yosemite high country lake-granite views are unparalleled.
I just did both from the Mammoth area. I did Sonora Pass in late Sept. And, I just did Tioga Rd. this past weekend. Hands down, I would choose Tioga over Sonora in terms of epic scenery. There were equal amounts of beautiful Fall colors. Traffic in Fall, as you mentioned, was nearly non-existent, even with the Govt shutdown. We went through Tioga Rd with the gates fully opened with no rangers present. It was seemingly free to go through.
Sonora Pass’ scenery was forgettable. The steep switchbacks and roller coaster sections were pretty cool. But, the last 2/3’s of that road were just so god awfully windy and boring, I just couldn’t wait to get off of it. However, Tioga Rd. to at least the 140 turn off was absolutely incredible. Especially with the early season snow fall. One of the best drives I’ve ever done.