Drive to Yosemite and Lembert Dome

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Laura didn't journal an entry for today so you know what that means... Greg took her on another death march. We left Carson City in the morning and enjoyed the drive down to Yosemite. The East entrance to the park is at 10,000 feet elevation which is also the highest pass in the Sierra mountains (that has a road). We booked our campsite the night before and reserved it for 3 days. Tuolome has the best campsites (according to the guide book) but it turned out that the showers were closed for repairs. Also, all the sites in the valley were booked (once again we hit the popular park during a weekend). Anyway, the site we got is quite pretty and near the Tuolome river. The dirt in the area is very clingy... anything that touches the ground becomes permeated in the dirt and dust. Our tent got covered so it's going to be fun cleaning everything up later.

Lembert Dome

After setting up our tent we went across the street to hike up the back of Lembert Dome. Yosemite is full of large granite domes that were formed by glacial action. Lembert and the other domes in the area are extremely popular rock climbing destinations. The dome climb is ~1200ft and it tops out just below 10k feet. We are still in shape from our previous hikes so this one wasn't too bad. Laura was kept entertained by the changes in scenery and trail types. We started in a meadow and then had a steep climb, followed by some rock scramble. The upper section is solid granite and was pretty steep over the last 15-20 feet. All over the dome there are boulders and smaller rocks that were deposited there by glaciers during the last ice age. The rock also cracks off in thin slabs. In certain sections there is a hollow space under the rock and it resonates like a drum when you hit it. On our way down the dome, we spotted a family of deer that were grazing through the upper meadows. For dinner we cooked up a batch of spaghetti that we'll use for a couple of meals. Laura has been worrying about a bear attack in the campsite. I told her that as long as we're cleaner than the campsite next to us then we'll be OK. The bears know how to get into vehicles and the crows know how to open tent zippers (smart animals!) so Yosemite has bear boxes (giant steel boxes) that all food must be placed in. During the daytime you are allowed to have food in your car but not outside (except when you are eating of course).

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Photos

Lembert Dome - campsite
Here's a picture of Lembert dome from near our campsite. It's more dome shaped in this photo.

Lembert Dome - almost there!
This is toward the top. Note how the glacier smoothed over all the rock. In certain areas you can see polished granite from the ice and in other areas you can see large boulder deposits.

The summit
Here's Laura at the top enjoying the view. Behind her is Tuolome meadows (lots of wildlife in this area).

Summit pic - Lembert Dome
Here's a picture from the summit. Behind the two smaller domes is our campsite area.

Deer feeding
Here are some deer that were feeding in the area. There were 5 total in the group.

Lembert Dome
This is near the start of the hike / climb. The near face is one of the popular rock climbing routes.