Reading the live feed from Caltrans...
Reading the live feed from Caltrans...
The corridor's long descent: Crowley Lake, Tom's Place, and the Sherwin Grade dropping 2,700 feet into the Owens Valley.
Bishop and the Sherwin Grade is open. No chain controls are in effect on this stretch right now.
Benton Crossing Rd. / 6 Mi. S of Jct. 203 · Mammoth Lakes · 7,063 ft
No chain controls are in effect at this time.
Crowley Lake O.P. / 28 Mi. N of Bishop · Mammoth Lakes · 6,873 ft
No chain controls are in effect at this time.
Crowley Lake O.P / 12 Mi. S of Jct. 203 · Mammoth Lakes · 6,863 ft
No chain controls are in effect at this time.
Toms Place / 25 Mi. N of Bishop · Mammoth Lakes · 7,040 ft
No chain controls are in effect at this time.
Rock Crk Rd / 15 Mi. S of Jct. 203 · Mammoth Lakes · 7,017 ft
No chain controls are in effect at this time.
Windmill / 20 Mi. N of Bishop · Swall Meadows · 6,853 ft
No chain controls are in effect at this time.
Sandshed / 17 Mi. N of Bishop · Bishop · 5,823 ft
No chain controls are in effect at this time.
16 Mi. N of Bishop · Bishop · 5,511 ft
No chain controls are in effect at this time.
Foot of Sherwin Grade / Gorge Rd. · Bishop · 4,517 ft
No chain controls are in effect at this time.
0.2 Mi. S of Pine Creek Rd. · Bishop · 4,520 ft
No chain controls are in effect at this time.
Bishop Wye Rd. / N End of Bishop · Bishop · 4,173 ft
No chain controls are in effect at this time.
3 Mi. N of Bishop / Gun Club · Bishop · 4,291 ft
No chain controls are in effect at this time.
S End of Bishop / D09 District Office · Bishop · 4,150 ft
No chain controls are in effect at this time.
Every Caltrans chain checkpoint on this stretch, in the order you will meet them. The level is read from Caltrans's own posting for that checkpoint. What R-1, R-2, and R-3 require is on the chain guide.
US 395 NB Crowley Lake
SR 120 - CLOSED\\
SR 108 - CLOSED\\
SR 89 - CLOSED
US 395 At Bishop
SR 120 - CLOSED\\
SR 108 - CLOSED\\
SR 89 - CLOSED
Caltrans reports no lane closures or incidents on this stretch right now.
Mammoth Lakes · 6,906 ft · Caltrans still image
Lake Crowley Exit Ramp · 6,886 ft · Caltrans still image
Mammoth Lakes · 7,037 ft · Caltrans still image
Bishop
Now: Mostly Sunny, 66°F, wind 2 to 13 mph SSE.
Tonight: Mostly Cloudy, 32°F.
Forecasts: National Weather Service, for each point itself.
South of the Mammoth Lakes turnoff the corridor changes character. The summits are behind you, the country opens up past Crowley Lake and Tom's Place, and then the road tips over the Sherwin Grade and drops roughly 2,700 feet into Bishop and the Owens Valley. This stretch's hazards are different: wind on the open valley floor, heat in summer, and the trap of judging the northern summits by Bishop's mild sky, or Bishop by the snow an hour north.
Past the Mammoth turnoff the corridor runs gentler country: Benton Crossing, Crowley Lake, and Tom's Place, the little resort community at the Rock Creek turnoff. The cameras on this stretch, McGee Creek, Crowley Lake, and Tom's Place, are the last frames before the grade. There is no camera on the Sherwin Grade itself and none in Bishop; the checkpoints and the Bishop weather block carry that part of the story, and this page says so rather than pretending otherwise.
The road reaches the top of the Sherwin Grade and tips into one of the biggest descents in California, dropping roughly 2,700 feet to Bishop at 4,150 feet in the Owens Valley. This is the corridor's classic trap in reverse: Bishop can be sunny and mild while Deadman Summit, less than an hour north, is snowing hard. Use low gear on the descent, watch for wind on the open valley floor, and never judge the whole drive by the weather at either end.
Right now, bishop is open with no chain controls posted (Caltrans).
Is the road to Bishop open?
Check the live status at the top of this page, with its Caltrans timestamp. That status covers US-395 from the Mammoth Lakes turnoff to Bishop, including the Sherwin Grade.
Is it windy in Bishop today?
Check the wind postings on this page and the wind page. The Owens Valley floor is one of the corridor's wind places, and Caltrans posts high wind advisories and prohibitions for campers, trailers, and permit loads here in the spring wind season.
Do I need chains on the Sherwin Grade today?
Check the live checkpoint list on this page. The grade itself posts controls less often than the summits north of it, but its top, around Tom's Place, sits high enough to collect them in a real storm.
Road, weather, and camera data: Caltrans District 9, the California Department of Transportation's Eastern Sierra district.