Trip Report - Hike to North Dome

Hi - I've been reading the forum for awhile and just registered so I could post. My friend and I have been making quite a few day trips to Yosemite to hike and do panoramic photography. I thought I'd make a short post about our hike to North Dome yesterday.

This is the first time I had done this hike. We arrived at the Porcupine Creek parking area at 9 am and it was almost filled up. We crossed 5 creeks on the hike, the second being the largest. None were a serious problem. There was still a little snow left after the second creek but we were able to follow the footprints of other hikers so we didn't get lost. The first 1.5 miles of the trail looks to have had no maintenance in years. I wonder why this is? We saw workers on the Dewey Point trail last week with chain saws clearing downed trees. They need to spend a few days on this trail and clear the trees. There was one spot that was particularly bad. After the first set of trail signs the trail was in very good shape. The only other part of the hike to note was the descent from Indian Ridge to North Dome. We had to be a little careful there.

We arrived at noon and there was perhaps 20 people on the dome. We had lunch and set up to photograph. There was a stiff breeze which unfortunately turned into a gale by 2 pm as we waited for better illumination of Half Dome. We hunkered down on the east side of the dome for some wind protection. Clouds became a problem after 2 pm and started to shadow Half Dome. We never got good illumination. Maybe another time. We left at 3 pm and got back to out car at 5:45 pm.

I should have some images added to my page in the next couple of days.

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Panoramic Images - http://panoramas.aa6g.org/

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Calaveras
The first 1.5 miles of the trail looks to have had no maintenance in years. I wonder why this is? We saw workers on the Dewey Point trail last week with chain saws clearing downed trees. They need to spend a few days on this trail and clear the trees. There was one spot that was particularly bad..

Generally, the trees come down in the winter, and the trail crews work all summer to clean then up. The part that you just hiked was under snow until very recently, and the crews have had plenty to do at lower elevations.

My recollection is that the the crews often set up a big work camp just north of the Snow Creek bridge, above all the switchbacks. That may be where this piece of trail would be serviced from. If so, they won't get to the part you complained about right away, because they would work closer to the camp first.

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wherever

Generally, the trees come down in the winter, and the trail crews work all summer to clean then up. The part that you just hiked was under snow until very recently, and the crews have had plenty to do at lower elevations.

My recollection is that the the crews often set up a big work camp just north of the Snow Creek bridge, above all the switchbacks. That may be where this piece of trail would be serviced from. If so, they won't get to the part you complained about right away, because they would work closer to the camp first.

Fair enough, they can't get to everything right away and some of the trees were obviously newly fallen. But there are a couple of spots that look like they've been there for years, branchless trunks with a lot of decay, and even a well worn bypass trail with small logs ground down by hikers. Certainly that's not new since the snow melted.

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Panoramic Images - http://panoramas.aa6g.org/

Chuck,
Thanks for link to your fo-toes. Berry nice.
Trees fall down. A LOT.
They'll more than likely get to it... It's a popular trail.
I mentioned this somewhere else... but trail to Merced Lake was cut at least a month ago.
Once you go past the Ranger Cabin to Washburn.... deadfall... why? Money Talks (HSCs)

Try hiking this and then a couple o log hops are no biggie:
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?1,29235,29519#msg-29519

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