Last week we hiked to Indian Ridge planning to photograph Half Dome from there. In previous years we had continued to North Dome but didn't want to go that far this year. The climb back up from North Dome to Indian Ridge isn't much fun.
We arrived at Indian Ridge early so we decided to go up to Indian Rocks to see the natural arch. Before heading back down we noticed a ridge to the east and decided to hike over there since it looked easy and we had extra time. It only took 10 minutes to get over there. It looked like it could be a great view of Half Dome and Clouds Rest if we could find an open area. We walked down and found an open spot at the edge of the canyon with a terrific view of Half Dome and Clouds Rest framing the Clark Range. This is a perfectly face-on view of Half Dome, much easier to get to and higher than Basket Dome. No need to go back to Indian Ridge to photograph!
I'm sure others have been there but I don't remember seeing any other descriptions. It was a very easy 1/2 mile off trail hike from Indian Rocks. We saw no other people. This would be a good off trail hike for anyone looking to do a first one. It's very open and you can't get lost since you can see Indian Rocks from the ridge. The view is spectacular even by Yosemite standards.
Here are some pictures showing where we were and how to get there.
The yellow line in this Google Earth image shows the path from Indian Rocks to the view point. We walked through a little manzanita but no real bushwhacking.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/x2iw6n4ilns2cjq/GoogleEarth1.jpg
This view taken from Mt. Watkins shows our location in the black rectangle.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5ed4z9mayh8q5vm/WestPan-50mm.jpg
This full resolution view of the image in the rectangle shows our photographic locations with the blue and red dots. I noted a dead and broken tree with the green arrow.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/prtpon4p9hvwqay/location.jpg
This is a wide angle panoramic taken from the blue dot. The dead and broken tree is noted with the green arrow. The red dot was where I took the previous picture from Mt. Watkins.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9pgin8kc6tjc3tj/24mmPan.jpg
Half Dome taken with a 300mm lens much reduced in size.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vjxl0rwv1wxvmh4/HalfDome-2-300mm.jpg
Full resolution view of people at Half Dome saddle. Cables are visible.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/lt6duhdbg89txgq/HalfDomeSaddle.jpg
This is the best image I could pull out of a pan of the Clark Range under mediocre conditions.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/71be0v4rl9v3bok/ClarkRange.jpg
We hope to return on a day without thunderstorms.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/10/2014 07:26PM by Calaveras.