Re: North Dome hike advice needed

We are considering a single day hike in August from the Tioga Road to the Valley. We would be using the North Dome Trail to the Upper Yosemite Fall trail. Leaving at 4am and hopefully ending the hike by 5pm at/near the Yosemite Lodge so as to catch the YART back to Tuolumne (it leaves at 5:00pm from the lodge). Considering that we are in good shape do you think we can accomplish this hike in the allotted time? Any advice concerning these trails? Any advice, at all? Thanks everyone!

Joseph



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/2012 02:45PM by JoeDaddy.

A friend and I just did North Dome out and back starting at Tioga Road. We're not fast hikers. We made it to North Dome in less than 3 hours. It's about 30 minutes from where the trail splits to go to North North Dome or Yosemite Falls before the last descent to North Dome. I can't imagine you that you couldn't make it to the lodge in 13 hours unless you plan to spend a lot of time sitting around. You'd be at North Dome before 7 am. There's a little shortcut you can take to cut off about 10 or 15 minutes. When you start to come down Indian Ridge and the rocks on the trail guide you to the left, go straight down the ridge and it meets up with the trail. It's open granite. You can't get lost and there's a few cairns and footprints.

Honestly, the far superior hike is from the Cathedral Lakes trailhead to Happy Isles. This is 21 miles and many times more interesting and scenic than the Half Dome way, IMO. You could leave at 4:00 from CL trailhead and easily make it to Curry Village by 1:00 and that is leisurely. It's only 2200 elevation from CL to Curry Village.

very doable. 1 point on that trail about 1/3-1/2 way to north dome the trail splits, when i was up there a few years ago there was no sign. Right went straight to Yos. Falls left when to N.Dome.This isnt the first split in the trail btw
Take the extra 20min to stop by indian arch.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/2012 06:05PM by ryanmj.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to provide great information. We feel more confident about our ability to get to the valley in the time frame provided... yes, we know 13 hours is a good chunk of time but we have never hiked this portion of Yosemite and I sure don't want to end up as a notation in the next Ghiglieri & Farabee book. We will be taking a look at the arch and the view from North Dome. Ulysses61, thanks for the heads-up on the CL to Happy Isle trail, we considered this hike but wanted to head down past the falls (or what amounts to a falls in August). We will be taking the CL hike in August 2012.
Thanks again everyone!

This is a wonderful day hike but I would suggest looping back to your car, instead of going to the valley.

Do not be surprised at how taxing this hike can be. It sure sound good that it is all downhill, but the last 3.5 miles down the Yosemite Falls trail is brutal. After having done this exact hike as a two night backpack trip with my little ones, I would suggest looping back to your car at the Porcupine Creek TH. The map says 6 miles or so with decent elevation gain, but this would be equally as taxing as the hike down to the valley and there would not be the hassle of an hour (or more) bus ride back to your car.

When planning for my trip, I looked into the bus ride too. I quickly discovered it would be a huge pain in the ass, so we left a car in the valley and and one at the trail head. We had to collect the other car after the hike, but it was cheaper and faster and a lot less stressful to do it this way. Even with all this, and a highly successful adventure, we all agreed we would have rather looped back to the car.

Don't get me wrong, the Yosemite falls trail is cool and there are some neat views along the way, but not as many as you think. It's just a whole lot of head down, trudging down stairs.

Just my 2 cents worth....

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"It is all very beautiful and magical here - a quality which cannot be described. You have to live it and breath it., let the sun bake it into you" - Ansel Adams

~ 13 miles from Porcupine TH to the Valley via UYF. 4AM start allows a nice buffer. Going down YF trail has become a pain, I agree - slippery. Snow Creek is easier downhill imho, and the views are arguably better; but for most people, getting there probably involves some backtracking & going around that annoying Indian Ridge. And time might become an issue.

While heading towards North, going down the False Dome is more fun than the following the trail. If you get pressed for time, skip the Falls Overlook. The view of the waterfall is very limited, and once you've been to Yosemite Point, the Overlook might seem rather "bleah" - it's inferior. Depending on flow, try not to miss "Oh My Gosh" on the way down YF trail. This is a fun day hike for sure.