Weatherscapes

Yep…another Yosemite report. This time, it was a trip with Heather to hike Lembert Dome, a big slab of granite on the eastern end of Tuolumne Meadows. We arrived on a Saturday morning, camped that night, then climbed the dome on Sunday morning.

After setting up camp, we went on a short hike along the Tuolumne River. This hike took us past a nice field of lupine, which made a great foregound for the imposing granite dome that we were to climb the next morning. The hike along the river was very nice, and it led to a wooden bridge over the river, where we stopped to rest and take in the scenery.

Even better, though, was that this short hike got us acclimated to the altitude, which would prove beneficial on our hike up the dome. So, after a very chilly night at the campground, we set out on the Lembert Dome trail early the next morning.

There are only a couple of words to describe this hike: Challenging, and awesome. The trail starts out innocently enough, going through a meadow near the parking lot where panoramic views of the mountains can be found. But just as you are being lulled into the easiness of the hike, you start to climb. And climb. And climb some more. After the climb, the trail levels out and passes a nice reflecting pool (right). It’s a lot of work to get up there (at least for us), but it’s well worth it.

The trail leads around the east side of Lembert Dome, then climbs a bit more to the smooth granite slope. From here, you can scramble up as far as you want, but always be aware of the steep slope to your left (south). One slip here, and…well, you get the picture. You can also summit another, lower dome to the right, which gives you awesome views in all directions.

The top of Lembert is a steep climb which we did not attempt. However, the views fromour stopping point were stupendous, as was the sense of accomplishment. From here, we headed down the steep switchbacks to the Tioga Road, then headed west on the trail back to the campground.

Overall, it was a fantastic hike that I would love to do again, and I’m sure Heather would like to also.

Heather and I ventured up to the Carson Pass area, about 20 or so miles south of Lake Tahoe, in mid-June. It’s such a gorgeous area, with hiking trails that lead into the High Sierra. The trail we chose this time was the Granite Lake trail, a 4-mile out-and-back hike that took us up some switchbacks, through some snow, and finally to a nice alpine lake.

This hike took us past a nice pond, which reflected the strongly-lit granite on the far side. This exposure was pretty tricky due to the strong light on the rocks, but the reflection came out pretty well. This little pond was about a mile and a half into the hike. The trail climbed a few switchbacks, then ran along a small stream for a while. The trail passed through an open meadow, where a bunch of lupine grew. Unfortunately, we were a bit too early for the bloom. From there, the trail slowly climbed up along the outlet stream from Granite Lake, passing through a couple of snow patches before reaching the lake itself.

There were tons of mosquitoes along the lake, and we did our best to avoid them. Just past the lake itself, the trail climbed a little more, and several boulders were available for a lunch spot. We had lunch there and took in the view for quite a while.

Aside from some switchbacks around a mile in, the hike itself wasn’t too bad. The destination lake is wonderful, and the trail continued on to more wilderness beyond. Maybe someday…