A hike in the High Sierra; Lembert Dome

Wow, I felt the forces of nature on this hike, we started in the cool afternoon sunshine of the High Sierra hiking to Dog Lake and Lembert Dome. 

At the Lake it was buggy (mozzies and black flies) and warm. I found that the thin cooler air at 9000' makes for quite tough uphills.

Dog Lake along the Lembert Dome hiking trail

As we approached Lembert Dome, the weather changed rapidly, huge black low clouds, thunder, lighting, rain, we even walked through hail at one point on the descent. The temperature dropped below 50 degrees and we were really cold by the time we got back to the car.

Rain. The first clouds and rain we have seen in California in 5 weeks.

Hike up Lembert Dome

Exhilarated by the hike, rain was on its way though!

The raw beauty of Lembert Dome, which is a roche moutonnee.
Such a treat to see the landforms that I learnt about in geography many decades ago!

• from wiki:

In glaciology, a roche moutonnée (or sheepback) is a rock formation created by the passing of a glacier. The passage of glacier ice over underlying bedrock often results in asymmetric erosional forms as a result of abrasion on the 'stoss' (up-ice) side of the rock and plucking on the 'lee' (down-ice) side. These erosional features are seen on scales of less than a metre to several hundred metres

Lembert Dome, Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park: the High Sierra lakes

'It is by far the grandest of all the special temples of Nature I was ever permitted to enter.' John Muir

Tenaya Lake seen from the dome above Olmsted Point

Tenaya Lake

Moody Tenaya Lake

Yosemite National Park: the High Sierra meadows

As we drove the pass, the streams were swollen, snow was still melting on the banks and the streams slow down as they reach the meadows which seem to embody the landscape of the High Sierra.

The meadows are still quiet spaces, crisp fresh mountain air, spring comes late to the meadows and some of the bushes still had unfurled emerald green buds. The meadows are are made even more beautiful by looming volcanoes and smooth granite domes that surround them.

Dana Meadows along the Tioga Road

Mount Dana and Mount Gibbs, volcanic cones.

Yosemite National Park: the High Sierra erratics

The Tioga Road which cuts across Yosemite from west to east is an extraordinary drive into the sub-alpine and alpine zone of the High Sierra.

Glaciers shaped the landscape and I have always been intrigued by erratics, boulders that are stranded and precariously dumped by the retreating ice. Clinging to life among the boulders at Olmsted Point and in the granite cracks are trees which make for wonderful counterpoints to the grey tones of the rock.