Driving tip to Yosemite...avoid Rt. 49.

[ruadisneyfan2]

We just returned Wed from an awesome trip! I'm not giving a whole TR but just wanted to mention a highway we ended up on as a result of some Disboards advice.

So we flew into SF late last Fri night, crashed at hotel near SFO that offered a free shuttle to FW. Sat we visit FW, Alcatraz, Lombard St. & rode a cable car. Taxied back to SFO to pick up rental car, and Sunday am we start our drive to Yosemite. Not thinking about comparing my map to our GPS, we blindly follow where our GPS takes us. When it directs us to Rt. 120, I recalled someone here saying to enter Yosemite on Rt. 140, instead of 120 when coming from SF since 140 is a much easier drive. So I pull over, check the map, and see that we could just hop on Rt. 49 south and still enter the park on 140.
omg! This has to be craziest road I've ever driven on. I don't mind the curves & hills but the sheer drop off at the edge of the narrow road, with no road markers, curbs, guard rails, nothing! If you take one turn too wide, over the edge you go, plummeting thousands of feet.
If a speeding car coming the other way should cross the yellow line a bit, you have to choose between a head on or going off the edge to avoid collision. Boy was I sweating! Dh offered to drive but I know he would go much faster & I couldn't take that either! Really, if it weren't for my kids in the car, I would have just left the car and started walking. whew! Of course, I was not thinking rationally. The whole way we were on the outer edge too. I was never so relieved to get on 140! I know people who live out there are probably used to it & laugh at us east coasters.
Anyway, we got there safe & sound but we did fly out of Sacramento so we took Rt 120 when leaving the park and it really wasn't bad. Much better than that Rt. 49.

I'm only mentioning it for those with fear of heights. Don't get on rt. 49 to avoid 120 or you'll be out of the frying pan and into the fire.

 

[GrandBob]

When it directs us to Rt. 120, I recalled someone here saying to enter Yosemite on Rt. 140, instead of 120 when coming from SF since 140 is a much easier drive. So I pull over, check the map, and see that we could just hop on Rt. 49 south and still enter the park on 140.

Yeah, I remember someone giving that advice too. I tried to correct it in at least one thread -- was there another?

OK, let me say it again. 140 is not easier than 120! In fact, just the opposite! 120 is a nice road through sub-alpine meadows with great views of the mountains. 140 is a twisty, turny road through a narrow canyon with rock walls on either side.

If coming from SF, definitely take 120!!!

-Bob

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

140 wasn't bad. It was 49 that gave me a few more gray hairs & made me sweat. Perhaps I could have avoided it if I took a different route earlier on in our drive but it was the last minute switch that got me looking at our paper map for an alternate route.

 

[usnuzuloose]

RT 49? Holy Moly! That is also the long way around that. No I would not make fun of you. It can be scary. But I am glad you arrived safely and had a great vacation.