Anniversary Hike: Sentinel Dome

My husband stayed home and took care of our son while I hiked Half Dome last year.  Truth be told, Half Dome was my dream, not his.  Duane's dream was to have our family hike to the summit of Sentinel Dome and find the Half Dome webcam located at Sentinel Dome.  Since I had a week off this past week, we decided to seize the day!

On the Friday prior, I took the kiddo to REI to buy him a proper pair of hiking boots.  I didn't want him walking on bare granite with his Converse deck toppers.  He tried on two pairs of boots, made the entire process a struggle, and at last, he settled on a pair of Vasque hiking boots.
Getting hotel reservations at the last minute for any of the hotels near Yosemite is difficult at best.  Oakhurst and El Portal were fully booked.  We had no desire to sleep on cots in Curry Village, both because it didn't sound appealing but also because our hike began near the end of Glacier Point Road, a full hour and a half drive from the valley floor.  We finally found a room at the Chukchansi Gold Resort and Casino in Coarsegold for Saturday night.  Not much further out than Oakhurst.  Even better we had gift certificates for a free buffett dinner for two and $75 off one night at the hotel.
That turned out to be the most disappointing thing about our trip.  The gift certificate had been donated to our son's school and raffled off at the school gala last April.  The only problem was that the gift certificate expired in February, i.e., before the school gala had ever happened and before the gift certificates had been raffled off.  Although I tried to make contact with the representative at Chukchansi who donated the gift certificates, she never even returned my call.  The hotel refused to honor the gift certificates even though I explained the situation.  We paid our bill without complaint, but I nevertheless came away with a poor opinion of Chukchansi.  It seemed to me to be a very cheap thing to do.  I wonder if they took that as a charitable deduction on their tax return? 

Sentinel Dome

Nevertheless, we had a nice evening.  We had a dinner of salad at the buffet, swam in the indoor/outdoor pool, and given that there was no entertainment that evening, we quietly watched a movie (Good Deeds) in our hotel room.  Since I had taken the kiddo to the Santa Cruz Beach & Boardwalk the day before, I was in dire need of some quiet time.  Unfortunately, the spa was completely booked, so I missed out.

Dead tree, apparently hit by lightning

Sunday morning, we got up at 7:00 am, got dressed and readied our packs.  We decided not to pack a lunch because we expected to finish this hike around 1:00 pm.  We did have plenty of granola bars, trail mix, electrolyte beans, G2 and water.  I always pack extra water.  You never know when you might need it, and this was such a short hike that I did not bring my water pump/filter.
By the time we got to the trailhead, it was 9:30 am and. after using the restroom and putting our packs on, we got started about 9:45 am.  Given our relatively late start, this would also mean we would be hiking in the heat of the day.  The weather was glorious - a bit too glorious at approximately 85 degrees.  That's about 10 degrees hotter than I prefer to hike in.  But you don't always get what you want.

First view of Half Dome from the Sentinel Dome trail

The first part of the hike took us through a sparse forest of evergreens, pines and firs.  the forest floor was paved with dead needles and punctuated by granite rocks. We could see Sentinel Dome in the distance, a little more than a mile away. 

Slope up Sentinel Dome

Like the Half Dome hike, we approached Sentinel Dome from the side opposite (southwest) the one we would hike up (southeast).  After having hiked up Half Dome, it was barely conceivable to me that we would be able to hike up the granite face, but the angle of ascent was about half that of Half Dome, i.e., about 20-22 degrees.  No cables needed.   Not difficult at all, and no steep drop off that would make us worry either for ourselves or our son.



Hiking up Sentinel Dome

About halfway up the Dome at about 11:00 am, we heard the chopper though we could not see it.  Eventually we saw the helicopter moving away from Half Dome, and through the valley to the south of Sentinel Dome.  We were not sure if it had been at Half Dome.  Rick Deutsch reported a drowning death on the same day, though in a different part of the park.  I think these incidents are unrelated, because of the location of the chopper.
Whatever the case, whenever we hear a helicopter in the wilderness, we wonder who has gotten themselves in trouble.  It always brings back sad memories of our second attempt at Half Dome.  Yet this was another, different day.

El Capitan, from Sentinel Dome

USGS Summit Marker

Our mountain goat

Half Dome, from Sentinel Dome

Sentinel Dome communications installation

We explored the top of Sentinel Dome for about 45 minutes.  We found the USGS marker.  We also found a metal disc showing all of the names of the surrounding peaks.  We also saw Ansel Adam's famous tree, which is now clearly dead and laying on its side.  The 360 degree view of the mountains is almost as good as the view from Half Dome, except that the mountains are somewhat further away and Half Dome's iconic visage is situated right in the middle of it.  Our son, meanwhile, jumped from boulder to boulder.  Apparently, the hiking boots were working out just fine!

Sentinel Dome Webcam

After hiking down Sentinel Dome, our next goal was to find the Sentinel Dome webcam that takes photos of Half Dome.  Duane has been looking at those photos every day for years.  It took us a while, but we finally found the camera, mounted on a communications building surrounded by antennas.  We stood on a rock to try and get into the photo, but apparently didn't quite make it.  The rock wasn't quite tall enough.

Sulphur Shelf Fungus

After that we took off for the remainder of our hike on the north side of Sentinel Dome, continuing our descent.  Here there was much more shade and forest cover, which made hiking in the heat of the day more bearable.  Eventually, we crossed Sentinel Creek, which in August trickles north until it falls down the south side of Yosemite Valley. 

Dry Yosemite Falls

Yarrow

From here we also had grand vistas of El Capitan, Yosemite Falls (or at least where the Falls were, for there was no water that we could see) and on the valley floor below, the Ahwahnee.   Most of the wildflowers had come and gone, but there were a few left.  A petite red flower that wouldn't stay still enough to get a clear photo, as well as some delicate Yarrow.  There was also a fascinatingly colorful Sulphur Shelf Fungus.

I guessed, rightly, that after crossing the creek, our trail would ascend once more. (Remember, what goes down, must come back up again!) The forest began to thin out and there began to be large areas without much shade.  I wasn't worried since we had plenty of water, but hiking in 85 degree heat isn't much fun.  By the time we got to the junction for Taft Point, we decided to head for the car - and air conditioning.

The Valley Floor from Glacier Point

A friendly chipmunk

We capped off our hike with a short drive to Glacier Point at the end of the road.  By this time it was 2:00 pm and we still hadn't had lunch.  However, the lines were so long at the store, that all we did was buy a bag of chips and drink to hold us over until we could find somewhere else to have dinner.
We stopped to drink in the views at Glacier Point and I was reminded how it was here, a little more than one year ago, that I began the backpack trip during which I would ultimately summit Half Dome.  A tiny chipmunk visited us while we were visiting Glacier Point and made for a sweet interlude. He really wanted that Ritz cracker that the kiddo was eating, but he was unsuccessful in his quest.
Nice memories to which I added another nice memory of today's hike.



Half Dome, from Glacier Point