TURTLEBACK DOME

“Great Is Granite, and Yosemite Is Its Prophet.”
Smeaton Chase, 1911

Some hikes are all about the journey; some are all about the destination. Turtleback Dome is most certainly about the destination.

You’d be hard-pressed to witness the immense, jaw-dropping views of Yosemite Valley for such little effort.

I’ve marveled at the fabulous, famous sights of the seven-square-mile Valley from every rim viewpoint, most of them multiple times and in all seasons. The best way, bar none, to experience one of the most stunning landscapes in North America, arguably the planet, is from above it.

Trust me, this is a two-bit walk with a million dollar payoff. Nowhere else can you see so vividly the amazing effects of glaciations on granite rock, resulting in geologic formations that are unique in the world. Every time I spend time on Turtleback, I get the same awestruck feeling in my gut.

Away from the crowd. Away from cars and buses. Away from commercial development. Away from ongoing construction projects. Far away from human generated noise.

That’s how to witness the magic of Yosemite Valley, an unparalleled and magnificent work of rock sculpture bulldozed into the west slope of the Sierra Nevada.

The half-mile-long paved road to Turtleback Dome, el. 5,280 feet, is a trail for all seasons. Your boots piggyback a gated service road. The hardest part of this short jaunt is finding the small pull-out parking area. Head’s up: you’ll need to be fast to spot it. It took me two passes.

The massive views of monolithic Half Dome, the soaring perpendicular wall of El Capitan, jutting Cathedral Rocks, Tamarack waterfall, the top of The Cascades, the forest and meadows are “eyegasmic.” Double, at least, the wow factor when all is cloaked in snow.

The perspective atop the glacially polished, smoothly rounded slab of granite is similar to the scenic, extremely popular Tunnel View but lacks the crush of motor tourists jockeying for a photo op. Furthermore, in my opinion, the vista rivals the scene from Dewey Point.

On top of the Dome, you will find Telecom towers that transmit information to Yosemite Valley and equipment for air quality monitoring. Two popular Yosemite Conservancy webcams are also here, Turtleback Dome looking west and the El Capitan webcam. Please keep your distance. You can also view the website used here for air quality at: fire.airnow.gov

Seen from above, Turtleback appears to be a curved shield-like hump. Several large boulders, geologically known as erratic, are souvenirs left behind by a retreating glacier. If bouldering is your thing, these big rocks have a few “problems” to test your skill.

Any month is a good time to visit Turtleback, but my favorite season is winter. Togged out in layers and hiking boots, I love the crunch of snow on the road leading through the forest. As of this writing, there is no snow. The blacktop ends at the communication building. Walk to the left side of the little facility on an obvious footpath and find a spot on the dome to drool over the views.

Depending on conditions, I wear gaiters and snowshoes. The sublime vista might divert attention away from your feet! Use caution because the surface may be slippery and icy. It’s not impossible, though, for the hulking, sloping dome to be wind-swept and bare.

April, possibly May hikers may witness the little Yosemite bitterroot, Lewisia disepala, a very rare wildflower growing in granitic sand. It is a plant that grows only on domes and cliffs around Yosemite Valley and nowhere else in the world. Please respect this unique species and leave it be.

From the totally silent setting about 1,600 feet above the Valley as the raven flies, hikers will easily grasp why Yosemite Valley is a “freak” of nature.

It’s only seven-miles long and just shy of a mile wide, but is scores higher in sheer scenic value per square foot than anywhere else on Planet Earth. It’s also Shangri-la for waterfalls.

Five of the world’s tallest falls live here: Yosemite Falls, 2,425 feet, is North America’s highest. No other landscape displays the effects of glaciations on granite bedrock as well or as spectacularly as seen in this World Heritage Site.

And that folks is its glory and its curse. Why wouldn’t four million annual visitors want to see this place?

Yosemite Valley, it seems, is doomed by its beauty. Though it represents only 1 percent of the park’s total area, this is unquestionably Ground Zero for visitation.

However, the masses that jam the Valley can be easily avoided by simply getting your feet on one of its many trails, some of which are flat, some are up, up and away.

To get on your way to Turtleback from the Tunnel View parking area, drive west through the tunnel that was blasted through the lower portion of Turtleback Dome. After exiting the nearly mile-long tunnel, the road makes a wide shallow bend to the left (south).

At exactly 2.1 miles from Tunnel View parking area, look sharp for the small dirt road on the left where the gated road to Turtleback meets the highway. If coming from the south, it’s 5.6 miles past the Glacier Point Road turnoff. There is no sign.

It is hard to spot and if you miss it, you’ll need to turn around and try again. There is parking for only a couple of vehicles and be mindful not to the block the road access at the gate.

Park Service and other utility vehicles use the road to reach their towers on the dome. Behind the gate, it’s only about a half-mile, moderate to steep (360 foot gain) uphill trek to the dome.

While munching a snack in the solitude atop this great granite blister, you might think about what impact your visit will have on this and other Sierra locations. My goal is to never leave even the slightest trace of my presence.

To experience a landscape, such as this, on foot connects us to it forever. Only through this kind of intimacy can we understand the transforming power of nature.

Recently, before leaving the obscure outlook, I remembered the words of a cynic who quipped, “Let’s face it, too much beauty is boring.”

So after being bored to tears by excessive beauty for a couple of hours, I walked back to the trailhead.

Sierra native Sharon Giacomazzi is the author of Sierra historical hiking guidebooks and articles for outdoors publications. She can be reached at sharong@sti.net. “Feet are like dogs, they are happiest when going somewhere.”