Sonora Pass rises almost 2 miles in the sky, at an elevation of 9,628 feet above sea level. This is about as high as anyone can drive at this height in the sky. It's like walking on air. The Sierra crest rises to 8,600 feet and the highest peaks to almost 12,000 feet tall.
Just a few hundred yards west of the summit is a series of switchbacks.
26 percent grade, 9,000 feet elevation, switchbacks. My kind of place.
On the east side is a section of road that a 1948 Willy's Jeep with only front wheel drive can not drive up it. Well, I was unable to drive up it. It is so steep for about 50 feet that the tires just spin in place. Makes me wonder how any other front wheel drive vehicle would handle it. It is impossible to get a running start because it is immediately after a 180 degree turn.
I am most impressed by those that ride a bicycle up that road, from Kennedy Meadows to the summit.
If you can look out the window of your car and see trees, then you aren't high enough.
Foothills have trees.
Mountains do not have trees.
If you can't breathe, then you must be hiking.
One of these days I'll go over the pass. One of the things on my bucket list is to re-visit the Nevada ghost towns I explored as a teen.
). Roads can be too steep, but they can also be rocky, narrow, and have blind hairpin turns, and a bigger engine and lower gear ratios won't help you with these things. Backing up in defeat after going most of the way to the pass is certain to be memorable and might even turn out to be expensive as well. 
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