Sonora Pass & Stanislaus Forest
Highway 108 high country · near Pinecrest / Strawberry · Sierra Nevada / Yosemite
Gravel & Bikepacking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- expert
- Best season
- Summer–early fall (very short high-country window)
What is here
- Terrain
- mountain
- Amenities
- Sonora Pass high country · Kennedy Meadows base · Remote granite & alpine terrain · Stanislaus NF camping
- Best for
- Big remote high-Sierra adventure riding
- Features
- Beneath wild Sonora Pass · Rough, remote high-country roads · Kennedy Meadows base · Deep granite-and-pine solitude
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Very remote, minimal services · Rough, rocky, steep roads · High altitude, thin air · Short season, cold weather
- Good for a first timer
- No
Gravel & Bikepacking detail
- Ride types
- adventure · bikepacking
- Surface
- rough
- Remoteness
- 4
- Riding
- Big, remote forest-road riding beneath one of the Sierra's highest, wildest passes — rough climbs through granite and pine to Kennedy Meadows and alpine basins
- Terrain note
- 6,000–9,000+ ft; rough remote roads; brutal climbs; short season
- Camping
- Yes
- Intl tip
- Rough, remote forest roads beneath Sonora Pass (over 9,600 ft — the Sierra's second-highest highway crossing) in the Stanislaus NF. Steep dirt climbs through granite domes and alpine meadows from bases like Kennedy Meadows/Pinecrest. EXPERT backcountry: brutal climbs, thin air (6,000–9,000+ ft), minimal services, very short season, serious weather. Forest camping. Wild high-Sierra grandeur and solitude for self-sufficient, well-prepared riders.
- Trip lengths
- day · overnight · multi-day
The guide
Sonora Pass, the second-highest highway crossing of the Sierra at over 9,600 feet, presides over some of the range's wildest, m…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Sonora Pass & Stanislaus Forest — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 38.3, -119.85