North Dome

If you've been searching for the best source of information and stimulating discussion related to Spring/Summer/Fall backpacking, hiking and camping in the Sierra Nevada...look no further!
Post Reply
User avatar
markskor
Founding Member - RIP
Posts: 2442
Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2005 5:41 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer
Location: Crowley Lake and Tuolumne Meadows

North Dome

Post by markskor »

Hey everyone...
Did you hear the story about the one moderator type guy (HM) who steadfastly asserts that there is a "hidden spring" in the immediate vicinity of North Dome- overlooking Yosemite Valley. For anyone who has never been atop North Dome, this is indeed a magic place, very remote, with spectacular views of the entire Valley. If this spring does exist (which I doubt), it would make camping on the North Dome so easy because there would be no need to then backtrack 2 miles to the nearest water, just to lug up the necessary overnight water supply.
When a second fellow camper (yours truly) asks the first guy just where this hidden spring is, the first guy says he cannot tell him, but can show him, and agrees to a backpacking trip to actually show the second guy its location, then conveniently gets lyme disease, and then, cannot hike anywhere for the next two-three years. It sure seems a long way to go, just to keep a spring's location secret...
Mark
Mountainman who swims with trout
User avatar
Hikin Mike
Founding Member
Posts: 552
Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2005 5:56 pm
Experience: N/A
Location: Atwater, CA
Contact:

Post by Hikin Mike »

I'm not the one that claims knowledge of this spring. It is a friend of mine who knows about it! :D

My doctors are suggesting knee replacement surgery since the cartilage in my knees are pretty much gone. So, maybe I'll actually be able to walk/hike again...
User avatar
Randonnee
Founding Member
Posts: 62
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2005 7:42 am
Experience: N/A
Location: Near the big city in Colorado

Post by Randonnee »

A friend of a friend, who is a friend of another friend also knows the location of that spring. :D


Mike,

A few years ago the doctor removed the cartilage from my right knee and used a Teflon coating to replace it after I damaged it through several years of hiking and skiing. So far I have no complaints, other than I wish he had done both knees. It eliminated a lot of pain during long downhill hikes.
User avatar
Hikin Mike
Founding Member
Posts: 552
Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2005 5:56 pm
Experience: N/A
Location: Atwater, CA
Contact:

Post by Hikin Mike »

Randonnee wrote:A friend of a friend, who is a friend of another friend also knows the location of that spring. :D


Mike,

A few years ago the doctor removed the cartilage from my right knee and used a Teflon coating to replace it after I damaged it through several years of hiking and skiing. So far I have no complaints, other than I wish he had done both knees. It eliminated a lot of pain during long downhill hikes.
I wonder if we have the same friends...

I think they want to do complete joint replacement on both knees. I'll ask them about the teflon thing.
User avatar
markskor
Founding Member - RIP
Posts: 2442
Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2005 5:41 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer
Location: Crowley Lake and Tuolumne Meadows

Post by markskor »

Rand,
Back to the friend and the location of the hidden spring near North Dome - (who gives a rat's a$$ about Mike's knee - lol) - Well, I do - kind of... but there are more important things here to discuss- sorry Mike - you lose!) - Can you have him (or her) pinpoint it on the map?
See:
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=37. ... -119.55889
Have the friend just put the red dot on the exact spot and record the long/lat. Topozone is cool.

Maybe if I know where to start looking, it would be a good incentive to go back and search for it next spring. It is a great overnight trip, campfire legal, and only 4.5 miles, one way- without the sidetrip to the arch. - like I need an excuse to re-visit Yosemite.
Thanks again
Mark
Mountainman who swims with trout
User avatar
BSquared
Founding Member
Posts: 958
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2005 3:31 pm
Experience: Level 3 Backpacker
Location: Jericho, VT

Post by BSquared »

Speaking of which, on our way up toward Half Dome on the first day of 2004's JMT trip, a French hiker told us there was a spring "just a little farther along." Of course we didn't see one and I dismissed it as a (really bad) joke, but then of course we didn't really go on the Half-Dome trail, we just kept plowing ahead on the JMT at the junction. Is there a spring somewhere up the Half-Dome trail from Happy Isles?
User avatar
Hikin Mike
Founding Member
Posts: 552
Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2005 5:56 pm
Experience: N/A
Location: Atwater, CA
Contact:

Post by Hikin Mike »

Is there a spring somewhere up the Half-Dome trail from Happy Isles?
Yes, about 1.5 miles from Half Dome on the left side of the trail.
User avatar
BSquared
Founding Member
Posts: 958
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2005 3:31 pm
Experience: Level 3 Backpacker
Location: Jericho, VT

Post by BSquared »

Ok, I feel much better now. Fooling a bunch of thirsty hikers about a nonexistent spring would have been a pretty low blow! :unibrow:
User avatar
markskor
Founding Member - RIP
Posts: 2442
Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2005 5:41 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer
Location: Crowley Lake and Tuolumne Meadows

Post by markskor »

Once you leave Little Yosemite Valley and the Merced, there are but very few places to get water. In the first 1/2 mile on the right, you sort of follow a creek up, and there is water there (you can hear it) but it is a little hard to get down to it.
There also is a very little Artesian Pool bubbling up about 2 miles from the top, just off the trail - on the left when going up - and this pool is a year-round dependable source of good water. It is about 1/4 mile in on the Dome side of the Cloud's Rest / Half Dome trail junction, just behind a large fallen log. This is the last water available before making the round trip to the top (unless you know where the very very last source is - the pipe. I cannot explain where the "pipe out of the rock" is exactly without showing you, but - it is about 100 feet off trail to the right- just a bit past - maybe 1/4 mile - the aforementioned artesian pool). There is no other water available before the top.
Mountainman who swims with trout
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot], bulaklakan and 120 guests