North Dome, Yosemite

The most underrated trail in one of America’s most treasured national parks

Enjoy one of the most glorious sunset of your life from your camp at North Dome.

Essentials

• Type of trip: Weekender
• Drive time from San Francisco: ~3.5–4 hours
• Difficulty and total mileage: 8.8 miles roundtrip, moderate difficulty. The trail is fairly flat, so this is a great intro backpacking trip.
• Crowds: Light to moderate. It’s Yosemite, so there’s always going to be at least some crowds, but they’re nothing compared to the Yosemite Valley.
• Temperatures: Varies with season; we recommend visiting May–September after the snow melts. Expect daytime temps around 70°F and lows near 50°F. Check the current forecast here.
• Permits: Required for all overnight backpacking trips. You can apply to reserve a permit in advance online through the National Park Service (NPS). You can also see which trailheads still have permits available here. Yosemite does reserve about 40% of the trail permits for first-come, first-served visitors… which means you need to show up at the permit issuing station early on the day you want to hike (before 10am, earlier for popular trails).
• Bears/threatening wildlife: Bears are active in the area, so be sure to bring a bear canister and properly store your food.
• Water situation: Limited water availability. You’ll cross over a small creek about 1–1.5 miles before reaching North Dome. There is NO water on North Dome so it’s essential to pack in the water you’ll need.
• Fire situation: Fires and camp stoves are allowed; check current fire restrictions before your trip.

Prep

Gear: Check out my temperate climate backpacking checklist for a recommended set of stuff to bring for this trip.

Food: We recommend bringing non-freeze-dried food, since this trek is fairly short and easy. Our favorite camping hack is to prepare breakfast burritos and carne asada burritos in advance, wrap them in foil, and then reheat them in the coals of the fire.

Campground accommodations: If you leave Friday night, try your luck at one of the campgrounds outside Yosemite, like Hodgden Meadow or Crane Flat. Otherwise, it’s best to leave around dawn on Saturday and make the drive early in the day.

Trip Details

Saturday

We left San Francisco around 6am, watching the glowing sunrise softly illuminate the city. It’s a remarkably pleasant time to be awake in San Francisco, when everything is still quiet and peaceful.

The drive to Yosemite is fairly unremarkable, so download a few podcasts and playlists to help pass the time.

For this particular trek, we didn’t reserve any trail permits in advance, so we were counting on good timing alone to score a permit. We assumed North Dome would be booked out, and we’d have to hike in from an alternate trail (like Snow Creek). But we were in luck and snagged a permit from Porcupine Creek, the hike’s primary trailhead.

On the trail to North Dome

The hike itself is fairly unremarkable… at least in a park like Yosemite with stellar views around every corner. The first 3.5 miles trek through thick woods with limited vistas and then opens up in the last mile of the hike… to this fantastic view of Half Dome!

Incredible views of Half Dome from the upper portion of North Dome, about 1/4 mile from the trail’s end.

It’s a little bit tricky to tell exactly where the North Dome trail ends, especially because you can technically continue onwards to Yosemite Falls (a longer, harder hike). At first, the trail opens up on the upper part of North Dome, winds down the side, and leads out to a lower, narrower stretch of rock, which is actually North Dome itself.

Camping is not allowed on North Dome itself, but IS allowed anywhere else in this area, so long as you’re 100 feet off the trail. It can get a bit tricky to find room to pitch a tent since much of the ground is slanted. Try to arrive earlier in the day for a better selection of camp spots.

Our camp near North Dome was definitely on an angle, which did not provide the most comfortable sleep.

After setting up camp, sit back and enjoy the million dollar view! From our campsite, we watched the light change on Half Dome as the sun set, changing from golden to deep pink and purple. You’re in for a beautiful evening!

Sunday

The next day, pack up camp and enjoy the leisurely hike back to the car. If you leave early enough, you should make it back to the car in about 2 hours, leaving time to explore more of Yosemite, if you so choose. There’s plenty of gorgeous spots just off Tioga Road, like Tenaya Lake or Tuolumne Meadows.