State Scenic Highway 108 108

State Scenic Highway 108 crosses Sonora Pass at 9,628 feet, the second-highest paved pass in California, between Sonora and Bridgeport. The road climbs from about 3,000 feet in the oak-covered foothills near Sonora through towering pine forest and finally stark, granite-sculpted high country, with sections exceeding 8 percent grade and reaching as steep as 26 percent between Kennedy Meadows and Leavitt Meadows. Wagon trains first crossed the pass in 1852 with the Clark-Skidmore Company, and a permanent wagon road followed in 1865, decades before automobiles ever attempted the crossing. The Pacific Crest Trail intersects the highway right at the summit, with a parking and picnic area serving as a trailhead for hikes to Sonora Peak and Wolf Creek Lake. Eligible for California's State Scenic Highway System but not yet officially designated, the pass closes with the first heavy snow most winters, typically from November through May, and remains one of the narrowest, steepest paved mountain crossings in the Sierra Nevada.

• Sonora to Bridgeport
• Sonora Pass (9,628 ft)
• 2nd-highest paved pass in CA
• grades up to 26%
• Pacific Crest Trail crossing
• eligible for CA Scenic Highway System