North Dome hike ???????????

[ignatiusjk]

Have any of you ever hiked to the top of North Dome in Yosemite? If so what was the hike like how long,how hard etc.I'm going in June and was thinking of hiking to the top of North Dome.Let me know.

[ROL]

God almighty!!!

Quick, someone call the attendants!

Believe it or not, North Dome didn't go anywhere since last year. Try searching your own thread (http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?75119-Hike-to-North-Dome-in-Yosemite&highlight=north+dome)! :eek:

[ignatiusjk]

Hey Rol,RELAX!!!! I just wanted someone advice on hiking to the top of North Dome. I've never done it before.

[Vaughn]

ROL does have a point. There is not a lot to add to the conversation from last year on this topic.

There is not a quick and easy way to get to the top of North Dome. It will be an all-day hike no matter how one does it. Only do it if you are in good condition, have proper clothing/boots, and take plenty of food and water for the day. It would not be a hike for the average hiker, let alone couch-potatoes. Make sure that you have what it takes to survive a night out in the hills and still be able to walk out the next morning.

I have never hiked up to it from the Valley -- it would be a long difficult hike, though some map-reading skills and a little cross-county hiking would shorten the hike a little (and if one did not mind hiking straight up a mountainside). A loop via the Yosemite Falls and Snow Creek Trails would be doable if you are in very good condition. Or just up and down via Snow Creek trail.

Unless we get non-stop snow this Spring, I imagine HWY 120 will be open in June, so you can approach North Dome from above and return the same way (taking a couple of flashlights would be best in case you got delayed and returned in the dark.) If you have a way of getting back to your car left on Hwy 120 (there is a shuttle service, you'd have to check with the park about it), then a one-way hike from HWY 120 to the Valley via North Dome is the easiest way -- but it would be the next day that you'd be able to get your vehicle.

Vaughn

[Preston]

The safest way to approach North Dome is as Vaughn indicated. DO NOT attempt to reach the dome from the valley floor unless you are a skilled climber. The North Dome Gully has sections of exposed Class IV. It is steep, and there is loose rock. Several people have been killed there over the years; mostly during the descent. Stay away!

--P

[tgtaylor]

It's a straight forwarded out and back hike from the TH at Porcupine Flat on 120 - about 8 miles RT from the car taking the Indian Ridge route with just the typical elevation gains/loses you would expect in the Sierra. Indian Rock with its arch is an interesting side trip - just 1/2 mile or so off the main trail. If you go light you won't have any problem at all: Easy hike and very popular.

Thomas

[ericpmoss]

Just as a cautionary tale, I did it the dumb way in late September. Started from the floor, went up the Tenaya switchbacks, to Snow Camp Creek (or whatever it's called), to the dome, over to Yosemite Falls and down. It was absolute hell, even with only 25-30lb total. I took 5 liters of water and had to beg for extra. The guy who looked fresh as a daisy approached from hiway 120, and he had plenty of time to take photos. I got some great views, but w/o camping there or bringing lots of lighting to get back to the hiway, you can't get any golden hour shots. If you can get a camping permit, by all means do it. It's glorious, as long as no storms come up. Let me repeat -- unless you are in good shape, the Tenaya switchbacks are miserable. They are harder than anything else I did in 50 miles of hiking the park, except for getting down the Falls trail in the dark at the end of that day. I ended up collapsing in the store trying to down some Gatorade, and couldn't walk the next day.

[Vaughn]

The time I hiked from Hwy 120 to Indian Rock (skipped North Dome this trip), then cross-country to Snow Creek Trail and down to Mirror lake I had my 8x10 (60 lbs or so). It was dark as I reached Mirror Lake. I made it to the Awahnee Hotel and had to call my friend to pick me up. He lived about a mile away (behind the AA Gallery), but I literally could not make it that last mile. And it usually takes a bit to get me that way...in fact I do not think I have ever been that tired except for a day of bicycling in New Zealand when I did 70 miles (w/ about 80 lbs on the bike) on a small bowl of granola (and a over-the-handlebars crash, to boot!)

I was extremely foot-sore and a bit low on food energy and a bit dehydrated. "Bonking" is the term, I believe. I think it was the cross-country part that did my feet in -- steep and long with that much weight on my back. The switchbacks down to Mirror Lake were the final touch. By the time I was hiking below Mirror Lake, I tried not to stop because it hurt my feet so much to get started again -- but I had to make many stops anyway. Fortunately I recovered fairly well the next day.

The previous trip I had just the 4x5 -- a little less than half of the weight of my 8x10 load. I left Hwy 120, went to Indian Rock, the North Dome, then over to Yosemite Falls and down the trail. Arrived on the Valley floor as it got dark, and walked to my friend's place. Wiped out, but not foot sore like the second time.

Ericpmoss -- I did not even think someone would attempt to go straight up to North Dome -- at least no one with a LF camera (well, perhaps Drew in his younger days!)

Vaughn

[QT Luong]

See: http://terragalleria.com/blog/2011/07/07/yosemite-unseen-iv-indian-arch-and-north-dome/

[tgtaylor]

Below is an image I shot of Indian Rock with its arch some time back but never printed until this Monday after reading and posting to this post:

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6097/7024352989_d854fe5227_c.jpg

Toyo 45CF, Rodenstock 75mm Grandagon (minus a UV filter I'm afraid), Oriental RC Glossy.

Thomas

[Vaughn]

Great, Thomas!

Of course, some dramatic clouds would always be a nice touch -- did you forget your #9 cloud filter, too? ;)

Vaughn

[Drew Wiley]

Oh heck. I'm pretty much a has-been, Vaughn. Nowadays you've got these twenty somethings who will do fifty or sixty miles nonstop within a 24 hr period and climb some
remote class 2 or class 3 peak in the process. Ultralight is an understatement. They'll carry
a sweater or light parka, a water bottle, and a few candy bars. Spooky if they get hurt or
a storm moves in on them. For me an ultralight pack would be 60 lbs ... just a slow old
human pack mule, more comfortable slogging uphill than down. And I sure love the air up
on top those high passes. I was so sick as a kid with life-threatening allegies that the only
way I could find relief in the summers was in the clean air at high altitude. Guess I got
addicted to it.

[Vaughn]

Better a has-been than a never-been. My days of carrying an 85+ pound pack (w/4x5) down into the Grand Canyon for 10 nights are way way over. Sixty pounds sounds about right -- that is my 8x10 pack and tripod anyway. It was been decades since I packed into the High Sierras. These coastal mountains just don't get that high -- 8000' if one is lucky.

[Drew Wiley]

I've cut weight other ways. Recently bought a Patagonia down sweater which is more warm than my old goosedown jacket but half the wt. Picked up a Big Agnes ultralight tent
which saves me three more pounds over my Bibler - wouldn't want to use it in high winds
above timeberline, but so far it has done fine in summer and fall snowstorms. I've got a
carbon fiber tripod in reserve for my 8x10, though I still prefer the big Ries, and have
acquired a 6X9 rollfilm back for my 4x5 - I really like the proportions, but have to resort to
ASA25 film (Efke) to get comparable quality, and focus is fussier than with full 4x5. There
are quite a few ways to save wt, though for weekend training I try to keep the pack at
least 75 lbs. Trying to squeeze in some of those really long steep dream trips in the Sierras
while I'm still in my 60's. But I think arthritis in my hands will squelch the Class 3 stuff.

[tgtaylor]

Of course, some dramatic clouds would always be a nice touch -- did you forget your #9 cloud filter, too? ;)
Vaughn

Unfortunately it was a cloudless mid-summer day. I shot it first from the right after managing to climb up on top of a rock there and somehow managing the level the tripod (Gitzo G 1348) and then again from this location to the left. This was some time ago and maybe I used a polarizer which would have darkened the sky as well...can't remember now. I exposed a sheet of C-41 and B&W at each location and this is the first time that I printed any of them.

More interesting to me is the image along the Merced that I posted today in the Yosemite thread. I printed in a few days ago and it's growing on me - has a nice peaceful lazy river mood about it and is a snappy 8x10 print. I'm going to enlarge it tonight and hang it on a wall - maybe above the sofa . Itr will look good there. This will be my first enlargement after switching to Fred Picker's "3-second burst" method. An enlargement from 8x10 to 16x20 should be about a 4x increase in exposure time or 9 seconds to 36 seconds in this case with the same aperature. It will be interesting to see if going from 2 "burst" to 9 burst will have any appreciable effect on the resulting print or would it be better to open up two stops and keep the time the same?

Thomas