Tuolumne Meadows Summer
— — the meadow the snow leaves for July.
Not only on a wall.
“One of the largest subalpine meadows in the Sierra Nevada, lying at about 8,600 feet along the upper Tuolumne River. Tioga Road, the only paved crossing of the high Sierra, opens late May or early June once the rotary plows have finished and closes again with the first heavy snow. For those few months the meadow turns from snowmelt mud to long green grass threaded by the river, with Lembert Dome and Pothole Dome on either side and the high peaks of the Cathedral Range to the south. The Pacific Crest Trail and the John Muir Trail run through. The store and the grill at the meadow open and close with the road.
Tuolumne Meadows Summer, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
Each tile ships in a kraft box, tied with cream ribbon, with a handwritten note from the studio if you'd like to add one.
Three or five different vistas, hung together — a chapter of places you've been, or want to go.
The place, in three passes.
Tuolumne Meadows lies at about 8,600 feet in Yosemite's high country, along the upper Tuolumne River in Tuolumne and Mariposa Counties. The meadow is one of the largest subalpine meadows in the Sierra Nevada, roughly two and a half miles long, with Lembert Dome at the northeast end and Pothole Dome at the west. Tioga Road, California State Route 120 through the park, runs the length of it and tops out at Tioga Pass at 9,945 feet just east of the meadow, the highest paved highway crossing in California. It is the only paved crossing of the high Sierra and is closed by snow for much of the year. The Pacific Crest Trail and the John Muir Trail meet near the campground.
The meadow has roughly four months of summer. Tioga Road typically opens between late May and the third week of June, depending on the snowpack and the time the rotary plows need to clear the deep drifts on the east side near Olmsted Point and Tioga Pass. The first heavy snow generally closes the road sometime in November, though early closures in mid-October do happen. Between those dates the meadow runs through a fast season: a few weeks of melt and mud, then long grass and wildflowers in July, then dry gold by late August, then dusting frosts at night through September. Black bears and mule deer feed at the edges; the Tuolumne River holds brook and rainbow trout.
Tuolumne Meadows is reached from the west via Tioga Road from Crane Flat, about an hour and a half from Yosemite Valley, and from the east via US-395 over Tioga Pass through the village of Lee Vining. The campground is one of the largest in the park and is typically reservation-only in summer. The Tuolumne Meadows Grill and Store, the wilderness center, and the visitor center open with the road and close with it. The Cathedral Lakes and Lyell Canyon trailheads pull from the same area, and the John Muir Trail runs south from here over Donohue Pass toward Mount Whitney. In winter the road closes and the meadow is reached on skis only.