Dog Dome and Lembert Dome
(Tuesday, July 01, 2003 in Yosemite, CA)
See also my photo album from this hike.
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After a long'ish drive from the cabin, Sarah and I arrived at the Dog Lake
trailhead on Tioga Pass Rd., geared up, and hit the trail at 10:50. There
weren't any bear boxes at the parking area, so we covered up our foodstuffs
and hoped they didn't smell too much. The trail crossed a meadow and granite
flat before veering right at the junction with the Dog Lake trail and turning
upwards.
We hiked at a steady grade through the forest. There were occasional peeks of
the dome between the trees, and we could hear some people climbing the dome's
granite slopes. We didn't have too much company on the trail, doubtlessly
because it was a Tuesday - I wouldn't care to be in this area come July 4th!
Before long Dog Dome appeared to our left and we took a short detour to climb
it. It was an easy walk up to the top along the dome's erratic-strewn slopes,
and there were great views of the Yosemite high country all around. There was
a large'ish murky body of water at the base of the dome which I though to be
Dog Lake. Given that it was brown and unattractive, we decided to veer from
our original plan of hiking Lembert Dome and Dog Lake. Had I bothered to look
at my topo map, I'd have noticed that Dog Lake is a little ways away from the
dome, and the ugly pond is a nameless snowmelt - oh well!
After rejoining the Lembert Dome trail, it was a nice walk up granite slabs to
the base of the dome, then a fun friction climb up to Lembert's summit.
Sarah didn't care for the steepness of the final few dozen yards and perched
herself on a granite shelf with a fine view southeast while I went to the top.
The top had even better views than Dog Dome, with most of the Yosemite high
country visible. It was quite windy on top, enough so to affect my balance,
so I didn't get too terribly close to the edge. I offered to take a picture
of a father and son on the top and they took mine, and after taking the
requesite summit pics I headed down to rejoin Sarah.
We went back the way we came, although left to my druthers I'd have probably
gone down the steep granite slopes of the dome directly to the parking lot.
We ran across a handfull of people including a couple who asked us how far it
was which we found somewhat amusing since they were no more than half a mile
from the trailhead! There were several rock climbers ascending the sheer face
of the dome and we stopped for a bit to watch them. We veered left on an
unofficial trail along the foot of the dome and enjoyed some nice views up to
the summit, and soon arrived back at the car, 2hrs and 16min after we'd
started.
This hike has a fantastic effort-to-view ratio, probably the best I've done so
far in the Yosemite area. Nearly anyone in reasonable shape (and not too
affected by altitude) should be able to do this hike in a few hours and the
views are superb.
Hike Stats:
| Distance: |
~3mi |
| Total Time: |
2h 16m |
| Elevation gain: |
~1000 feet |
| Difficulty: |
6 |
| Scenery: |
9 |
| Trail condition/markings/etc: |
8 - easy to follow if a tad rocky in places |
| Overall rating: |
9 |