North Dome Hike - Yosemite National Park

The hike begins at Porcupine Creek Trailhead on Tioga Pass Road.  Although the elevation change is only 580-foot, the hike is considered strenuous due to the step descents and accents along the path.

The path winds through mixed conifer forest for about 0.7 miles on a paved path, and crosses Porcupine creek several times.  I can tell you the paved path is almost gone.  We did see a hiker note in the path they had seen a bear and cub on the evening prior to our hike.  We did not see any bears during our hike and that was just fine with us!

We hiked several areas that were snow covered some about 2-3 feet deep.  

We reach the trail marker which interchanges with other hikes along the route.  We still have 2.7 miles to go.

Here's Kathy proceeding down one of the many slopes we encountered.  The entire hike is 10.4 miles round trip.   We hiked the route in just under 6-hours with breaks. 

The ridge you see in the foreground is near the end of the hike.  It looks fairly close but we have a lot of down hill and up hill hiking to get there.  The path was not easy to follow once you reach the rocky section.  We actually did a little off-path climbing to try and find an access route.  We eventually got back on the trail and continued our hike.

Near the end of the hike, you descend steep rocks steps to the base of the North Dome.  You then climb the domes summit to take in magnificent views of Half Dome and Yosemite Valley.  Kathy normally stays away from steep edges but did a fantastic job walking along the ridge. 

You walk 1/4 mile along a ridge to get to the overlook, but it's well worth the effort.  This is a picture of the famous Half Dome one of the most pictured cliffs in Yosemite Valley.  The Rangers install metal hand rails so that hikers can make the accent to the top of the dome.  

This is a photo of Illilouette Falls which Kathy and I crossed when we hiked down from Glacier Point in 2011. The Panorama Trail provides a close-up view of Illilouette Fall and panoramic views of eastern Yosemite Valley before joining the Mist or John Muir Trails down past Vernal and Nevada Falls to the valley floor.  Here's a link to our hike Glacier Point Hike

Here's a photo of the eastern side of the Yosemite Valley.  Not many people get to see this portion of the park.  You have to climb up to see an aerial view of this section.

We met another couple and agreed to take pictures of each other.   On our return hike, we again, damn GPS, lost track of the path for a moment and had to climb a very steep hill to access the trail again.  We would highly recommend this hike to anyone visiting the Tioga Pass section of the park.