I was wondering, if I am driving from the west side of the sierras to the east side on 120 through yosemite if I have to pay an entrance fee? We wont be stopping just driving through.
Thanks" Tyler.

Yes.

$20 per car.

--B.G.--

Thanks.

If you enter the park very late at night, drive through, and exit before dawn, the entrance and exit stations will likely be unstaffed, so your cost is zero. On the other hand, I've seen them stay open until unusual hours once in a while, just to keep visitors from planning on this action. The station least likely to be staffed is Tioga Pass.

For a period once some years ago, they had a special deal. If you were driving straight through the park, they would collect $20 from you at the entrance and give you a time-stamped receipt. If you hit the exit in two hours or less, you could request and they would refund $15 of the $20. That was a good deal. However, some visitors would pay the $20 at one end, drive through, and then the exit station was unstaffed, so they could not get the $15 refund. Lots of taxpayer complaint letters got written about that.

If you are driving straight through, it is best not to exceed the posted speed limit by much. Speeding tickets are very high (it is a federal rap). Plus, at night there will be some wildlife out on the road, and car damage from a deer impact will cost you a lot more than that.

If you are in and out of the national parks a lot, it might be economical to get a pass. Then get each of your riders to chip in some bucks toward the pass cost.

--B.G.--

Everything that Bob mentioned I was going to say the same. Late night through Yosemite most likely will be free. But please.....be careful as there are a lot of animals out. I came around a bend after Tenaya Lake and a bear was in the middle of the road. Thankfully I was driving slow due to being VERY tired from hiking 10 hours and I really should have pulled over and slept somewhere.....But why drive through Yosemite in the night? It is such a great drive with amazing views!

"I came around a bend after Tenaya Lake and a bear was in the middle of the road."

Think about the poor bear. It had probably been crawling in and out of cars looking for food all day long, and it was tired, too. If the bear had held out a paw, would you have let him hitch a ride?

--B.G.--

Hey, so I guess tyler didn't let you guys know that that's what happened. We had to drive home for a day so we had to make 4 trips through the park, two were around 6am so it wasn't staffed but the other two were during staffed times so we ended up upgrading the one $20 entrance fee to an annual pass for the other $20 we would have had to pay anyway.

We almost hit several deer and throughout our entire trip yet never saw a bear. So many times I should've seen a bear and still I've only seen one cub running across the road in Sinkyone wilderness.

Hike in SEKI for an extended period and you will see many bears. I am the anti bear magnet and I have seen my share there

"Hike in SEKI for an extended period and you will see many bears."

Last week I saw a black bear in Sequoia, and that was before I even got out of the car. There is a lot of area between Sequoia and Kings Canyon that is full of campgrounds and mountain resorts. Those places tend to have garbage, and black bears just _love_ garbage. Then there was another one at Crescent Meadow that I missed by a minute or two.

What are you going to see when you go to places like Bearpaw Meadow, Panther Gap, and Buck Creek?

--B.G.--