Every Trail Tells a Story
North Dome
North Dome looks inaccessible from afar, but a mellow trail leads to summit.
A classic high-country walk mixing forest, granite, and Yosemite Valley views.
Optional detour to rare granite arch at Indian Rock.
From the floor of Yosemite Valley, Half Dome is untouchable – always above, always iconic. From North Dome, you finally stare it in the face. No glass, no guardrails, no crowds – just you and the granite giant, eyeball to eyeball across Tenaya Canyon. Few spots in the park offer this kind of intimacy with the most famous hunk of rock in America. Half Dome fans say the Yosemite icon offers superior views, but North Dome devotees point out that North Dome offers something Half Dome can’t provide – a view of Half Dome.
From a Yosemite floor perspective, 7,542-foot North Dome dominates the north wall of Tenaya Canyon opposite Half Dome. It appears impossible to ascend but, surprisingly, the rounded mass of granite can be traveled and topped by a moderately graded pathway.
The path to the Dome begins at Porcupine Flat, home to scores of the namesake creature, whose favorite food source is the inner bark of conifers – lodgepole pines in particular. A generous selection of other Yosemite trees may be glimpsed en route: Western white pine, Jeffrey pine, red fir, and huckleberry oak. Several life zones overlap at this elevation (about 8,000 feet), creating this intriguing collection. Extra added attraction for the hike is Indian Rock, an unusual stone arch perched atop Indian Ridge. The delicate, 20-foot arch, scarcely one foot thick at its thickest part, is not Yosemite’s only arch (another is below the surface of the Tuolumne River) but it is the only one accessible to hikers.
The hike itself is a sampler of Yosemite high country: a bit of forest shade, a broad ridge with wildflowers in spring, some classic Sierra granite slabs. North Dome waits at the end like a balcony seat in the world’s grandest theater. Walk out onto its smooth summit and the Valley rearranges itself: Clouds Rest stretches long and lean above, Glacier Point juts dramatically opposite, and far below, the Merced bends and glitters.
This is a hike that makes you work a little – long enough and high enough to matter – but pays off with a view that stays with you, a conversation across a canyon you’ll never forget.
From Tioga Road, take the signed Porcupine Flat trailhead, located about a mile east of Porcupine Flat Campground. Limited parking available.
Follow the trail south through forest, gently descending before climbing toward Indian Rock. A switchbacking climb leads to a saddle and to a side trail to Indian Rock. From the saddle, North Dome Trail descends along the forested crest of Indian Ridge for 1.2 miles to meet the trail to Yosemite Falls about four miles from the trailhead.
Turn left and descend tight switchbacks to the shoulder of North Dome, then across the top of the long, bald dome. The final approach is over open granite; walk carefully but confidently onto the dome for full views of the Merced River flowing through Yosemite Valley far below and the waterfalls cascading from the valley walls. Along with El Capitan, Three Brothers and the other prominent landmarks, observe Little Yosemite Valley and Mt. Starr King.