Sunrise light on a grove of tufa towers emerging from the water of Mono Lake with soft green and dusty-red wild grasses in the foreground, Canada geese in the shallow water with reflections of the rocky towers, and desert hills in the distance.

Highway 120 reopens; Yosemite Valley closed indefinitely

Sunrise light on a grove of tufa towers emerging from the water of Mono Lake with soft green and dusty-red wild grasses in the foreground, Canada geese in the shallow water with reflections of the rocky towers, and desert hills in the distance.

Today at 2:30pm, Yosemite National Park administrators and fire managers reopened Highway 120 (Tioga Road) through the park.

Firefighters are working to suppress the Ferguson Fire, which is burning in and near Yosemite National Park. Photo courtesy of NPS.

However, as the Ferguson Fire continues to burn near and in the park, the current park closures have been extended indefinitely.

Closed areas

Yosemite Valley, El Portal Road, Wawona Road, Big Oak Flat Road, Glacier Point, the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, the Merced Grove of Giant Sequoias, Wawona Campground, Crane Flat Campground, Tamarack Campground, and several other sections of the Park.

Open areas

The Tioga Road is open to all visitors and vehicles from Tioga Pass all the way through the park. The Big Oak Flat Road west of Crane Flat is open. Most of the trails and campgrounds along the Tioga Road, including the Tuolumne Meadows Campground, are open. Visitor services along Tioga Road, including the High Sierra Camps and the Tuolumne Meadows Store, are open.

More information is available at the Yosemite website. We are immensely thankful to the firefighters working to put out the fire and the public officials working to keep people safe.