Every Trail Tells a Story
Lembert Dome
Maybe the best view-per-minute bargain in Yosemite.
Granite “scramble” that feels adventurous but stays friendly.
Easy add-on to tranquil Dog Lake.
Some domes require a long preamble. Lembert gets right to the point – a clean granite whale shouldering up from Tuolumne Meadows, begging you to climb its back and see what the high country is really about. In the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee, you can be on top staring at a 360-degree map come to life: Cathedral Range marching south, the meadows braided with river light, Dana’s dark shoulders to the east.
The 9,450 foot dome looks absolutely impossible to scale when regarding it from the trailhead, but fear not. For the time-short (but not stamina-short) traveler, able to do only one hike in the Tuolumne Meadows area, Lembert Dome is the one to do. From atop the Dome you’ll have Tuolumne Meadows and Yosemite Valley at your feet, and view a parade of peaks from Cathedral Peak all the way to Mt. Dana at Tioga Pass.
Geologists say Lembert Dome is not a true dome (such as Sentinel Dome) but a rouche moutoonee; the French phrase “rock sheep” describes a glacier-carved formation recognized by its sheer front and sloping back. The rouche moutoonee was named or shepherd/naturalist Jean Baptiste Lembert, who began work in Tuolumne Meadows in 1885. An unsolved mystery to this day is who shot him dead in his cabin – and why – in 1896.
Kids love the hike to Lembert Dome; so do geologists and anyone with a camera. The companion piece, Dog Lake, sits in a forested bowl and invites a cool detour either before or after the summit.
From Tioga Road, park at the signed Lembert Dome/Dog Lake trailhead on the east end of Tuolumne Meadows, near the Parsons Lodge/Soda Springs junction area.
Climb from the parking area on the combined Lembert Dome/Dog Lake trail. At the first major junction, bear right for Lembert Dome, ascending switchbacks through lodgepole to the granite shoulder. Follow cairns and an obvious path up the broad backside – no cables, just sticky Sierra granite – to the rounded summit.
Enjoy grand vistas over Lyell Canyon and the Cathedral Range and admire the park’s highest peaks including Mt. Florence and Mt. Lyell. Then descend to the junction and continue left to Dog Lake through cool forest. Return to the trailhead the way you came or reverse the order if the dome looks busy.