What is Tioga Pass bike-only day?
My experience (in May 2026)
How do I prepare for Tioga Pass bike-only day?
Tioga Pass is a road that runs through Yosemite National Park. It connects to the east entrance of the park and reaches a maximum elevation of 9,945 ft. Most of the year it’s either (1) covered in snow or (2) open to cars. But on lucky years, the NPS gods will bless us with a day (or more!) of bike-only access after clearing up the snow.
Fast facts: Bike-only day in 2026 was on May 14. The most standard route, which we did, is from the Tuolumne Grove Trailhead parking lot to the Tioga Pass Entrance, and back. It is 46 miles one way, with 6,200 ft of elevation gain on the way there and 2,200 ft on the way back.
We headed out from Oakland at 2:30am, met up with my friend who stayed at the Yosemite International Hostel, and arrived at the Tuolumne Grove Trailhead parking at 6:10am. There was no one at the toll booth when we went through. The parking lot was less than half full when we arrived.
We finally rolled out around 7am, taking a left out of the parking lot. The route is very obvious, and there is no need for navigation. We went at a chill to moderate pace, taking long breaks to regroup, and it took us 7.5 hours on the bike and 11 hours total. The whole route was beautiful.
The climbing is at a gentle grade, so it feels much easier than, say, Mt. Diablo. It is easy to find places to filter water along the way. We refilled water at Tenaya Lake both ways. There were a good number of cyclists (when we stopped for a break, it was pretty much guaranteed that we would see a cyclist within a few minutes), and also NPS vehicles driving along the road, so I was never scared that we would be done for in the event of an emergency.
Although we did bike all the way to Tioga Pass, stopping at one of the earlier turning points is also a very valid option. The natural turning points are
Tenaya Lake (30 miles from start)
Tuolumne Meadows (40 miles from start)
Tioga Pass (46 miles from start)
(with roundtrip distances x2)
At Tioga Pass you’ll see lots of other cyclists, and I had a nice time chatting with some cyclists who were originally from Switzerland about good places to bike in Europe. They recommended Bormio, St. Anton, Gruyères, and Innsbruck.
It took us six hours to get to Tioga Pass, including breaks. We started the return journey at 2pm and got back to our cars at 6pm. We stopped for Panda Express on the way home and made it back by 10:30pm. A long day, but a great one :)
A note on altitude: I did feel the altitude a little — there were some climbs that made me feel more out of breath than normal. But overall it wasn’t too bad. I did intentionally take it easy on the climbs, staying in Zone 2 mostly.
Sign up for email notifications about the road opening at https://istiogaopen.com
Be ready to stop drop and roll, er, ride, at a moment’s notice. This year, NPS posted on Wednesday, May 13 that the Tioga Pass bike-only day would be Thursday, May 14. I asked another rider and he said that this lack of advance warning is standard. Although, looking at other blogs, I saw that in 2021 they opened it up to bikes for three days, so it was a bit more relaxed.
Get a water filter, or if you already have a water filter, test it in advance! Mine was a few years old and when I tested it the night before, water wasn’t passing through. I had to soak it in warm water to rehydrate the filter fibers to get it working again. My friend didn’t test her filter before and when she tried to use it on the ride, it didn’t work. So make sure to test it!!
Bring lots of food (and water, or a filter). There is nowhere to get food along the way. I saw lots of cyclists wearing backpacks/vests in order to carry more stuff.
Bring layers. It was chilly in the morning when we started, and also on the descents.
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