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Jean, Jennie, Reza, and I hiked up Lembert Dome near Tuolumne Meadows
Campground.
We started our hike, as usual, under clear blue skies. At first we
took the trail closest to the road, but this was a mistake. This is
just a use trail for people who want a close-up view of the dome, and
for rock climbers preparing to make their assault.
Two rock climbers were ahead of us, walking up the dome before
stopping on a ledge to take out their equipment. Fun as that may have
looked, we'd be taking the long way around. We cut across the smooth
granite until we found the trail off to our left. A large group of
about 20 kids were gathered there; a group leader was explaining the
vegetation.
After passing the group, we started our hike in earnest. The hike
up to the top of Lembert Dome is short, but relatively steep (about
12% average grade). It pretty much climbs, climbs, and climbs some
more. There basically aren't any flat sections to the trail.
Whereas the previous day Jennie had felt the effects of altitude
the most, today it was Jean's turn to feel lightheaded. We took it
slow, stopping often. I tried to measure my pace and keep my heart
rate at 140. It would have been hard to keep it lower than that given
the steepness of the trail. We passed and got passed by an older
couple who empathized with us. They had a daughter who often suffered
from altitude sickness. Said she'd gotten to the top of Lembert Dome
once, and then fainted when she stood up.
The trail passes through forest, with sparse undergrowth. We saw a
few wildflowers when we came down (they were there when we went up,
but we must have been too winded to notice). As we neared the top, we
saw another dome-like formation off to our left, with huge boulders
sitting on top of it. As we would later find out, the boulders had
been on top of glaciers; when the glaciers melted, the boulders
simply dropped down to where they now rest.
Shortly, we were at the end of the trail. Now the dome-climbing
started. We walked back along the spine of the dome. It wasn't too
steep at first. The woman we'd met before was sitting there. We asked
her why she wasn't at the top, but she said rocks weren't her thing.
We started to go up a very steep section -- almost like rock
climbing. Jean wanted to test her rock climbing skills, but given her
earlier condition, I didn't think that was a good idea. Then we saw
another group go around. The leader said he'd been here before, so we
figured he knew what he was doing. We followed him around the bend,
and then started carefully scaling up the rock face to the top. It's
a short climb, and not nearly as steep as the top of Half Dome. But
it requires some caution and patience.
Wow. I had no idea the views from the top would be so amazing. From
the top of Lembert Dome, you get a 360-degree view of Tuolumne
Meadows. You can see Unicorn Peak, Cathedral Peak. Off in the
distance to the east, Mount Dana and Gibbs dominate the view. We all
marveled at the fact that such a relatively short hike could reward
us with such stunning views -- better, I'd say, than Half Dome. Tuolumne Meadows from Lembert Dome Mount Dana (left) and Mount Gibbs from Lembert Dome The four of us on top of Lembert Dome, Mounts Dana and
Gibbs in the background. Panoramic from the top Panoramic from the top
Being completely exposed, the wind was fairly strong at the top. The
sky had been clear before, but small clouds were beginning to move
in. Just before we left, we could see a dark cloud starting to form
directly overhead. The afternoon thunderstorm show was about to
begin. Descending the dome The top of Lembert Dome. Notice the dark cloud on the left
(picture taken after we've started the descent). Descending the steep trail We saw a lot of these trees along the trail. Notice how
the bark is actually twisted around the tree in a spiral.
Jennie was nice enough to let me use her camera battery again. I
took my pictures and we started down. As we got to the base of the
rock section, the group we'd passed at the bottom was there, starting
the final ascent. We took the same trail down that we came up on. The
somewhat longer alternative is to take the trail to the right,
passing by Dog Lake, and making a big loop around the dome. Climbers headed up Lembert Dome Lembert Dome, from near Tioga Road
We'd planned to meet the others around 12:40pm, and it was already
past 11am, so we started down as quickly as we could. The hike down
was uneventful and very quick -- just about 45 minutes. As we started
to put our things in the car, a little after 12pm, rain drops started
to fall. Just in time. A dome is no place to be in a lightning storm.
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