Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park is easy to reach from San Francisco and the Bay area; offers lots of great amenities including camping, lodging, and dining; and is one of the best summer rock climbing areas in the United States. Here’s all the information you need to plan your Tuolumne climbing escape now.
Getting There
Tuolumne Meadows lies along California Highway 120 east of Crane Flat and west of Tioga Pass. Most of the domes and cliffs rise above a seven-mile highway stretch between Olmsted Point and the Tuolumne Meadows Campground. Tuolumne is 60 highway miles (allow 1½ hours driving time) from Yosemite Valley. The highway closes from late October until mid-May, depending on snowfall.
Yosemite National Park and Tuolumne Meadows is a fee area. The $20 car entrance fee is good for all passengers for seven consecutive days.
Seasons
The best climbing season is June through September. Tuolumne Meadows is relatively high at 8,600 feet so it gets pounded with snow for half the year. The Tioga Pass Road (CA 120), which traverses the Meadows, usually opens in May, depending on snowfall, and closes after the first big winter snows sometime in late October or early November. Expect daytime highs between 60 and 80 degrees, with cool nights that can dip into the 30s. While prolonged sunny and warm spells occur every summer, severe thunderstorms accompanied by lightning, hail, and heavy rain also regularly occur in the afternoon. Many climbing accidents in Tuolumne result from unexpected thunderstorms and unprepared climbers.
Read more about climber lightning safety:
- Lightning Safety for Climbers
- 8 Tips to Avoid Lightning
- 10 Lightning Tips for Climbers
- First Aid for Lightning
Services
To avoid lots of driving and save gas money, take the free park shuttle bus which runs every half hour in summer between Tuolumne Meadows Lodge and Tenaya Lake. It stops along the highway corridor and picks you up later. Also a hiker shuttle (fee) runs from Yosemite Valley to Tuolumne in summer.
Groceries are available at Tuolumne Meadows Store, which has a surprisingly great selection of foodstuffs, including organic foods.
Showers are available for a fee at Tuolumne Meadows Lodge in the afternoon.
If you’re tired of camp cooking, try dining at Tuolumne Meadows Lodge. It has family-style seating with eight at a table, but that’s a good way to meet other climbers. Tioga Pass Resort, just east of the park boundary, offers good homestyle cooking. The best area restaurant, believe it or not, is the Whoa Nellie Deli in a Mobil gas station at the eastern base of the steep Tioga Pass grade east of the park at the junction of CA 120 and US 395. Gas station food was never so good! This famous eatery offers great pizza, fish tacos, burgers, and cold local-brewed beer—all perfect after a perfect day of Tuolumne climbing.
Accommodations and Camping
Tuolumne Meadows is one of the best places to camp at Yosemite National Park with its 304-site Tuolumne Campground. Besides being spacious, wooded, and peaceful, half the sites are reserved and the other half are on a first-come first-served basis, which is great if you make an impulsive drive up to the Meadows. Get there early to grab a vacant spot. Otherwise you can camp west of the Meadows and Olmsted Point at the park’s Porcupine Flat, Yosemite Creek, and White Wolf campgrounds. Campsites have food lockers to keep your stash safe from marauding bears—you must use them or risk a bear break-in and a park fine. Do not leave food or ice chests in your vehicle. Check the Yosemite National Park website for more campground information, fees, and reservations. It’s easiest to make a reservation on-line.
If you don’t want to rough it in a tent, consider the Tuolumne Meadows Lodge with its tent cabins beside the Tuolumne River and dining room. It’s a mile east of the campground.
Climbing Guides & Books
The best and most complete climbing guidebook to Tuolumne Meadows is Rock Climbing Tuolumne Meadows by Don Reid and Chris Falkenstein (2006), published by Globe Pequot Press. The no-frills book offers excellent topos, brief descriptions, and good access directions complete with GPS coordinates.
Rock Climbing Tuolumne Meadows by Don Reid and Chris Falkenstein
Yosemite Mountaineering School and Guide Service, the park concessionaire, offers rock climbing lessons and guide climbs at Tuolumne Meadows in the summer. Visit their website, call (209) 372-8344, or visit them at Tuolumne Meadows Sport Shop for info and reservations.
