Sierra Nevada Adventures - Dome Land Wilderness
For this weeks California mountain adventure we travel to the Southern Sierra Nevada mountains to explore the
Dome Land Wilderness!!
Larry (@csusbgeochem1) and I packed up our backpacks got my dogs in the car and then drove through the night. Across the desert, up passed Lake Isabella and up into the Sequoia national forest to the trailhead at Big meadow. We got there and got a few hours of sleep. Once the sun came up we hit the trail. The trail started out pretty steep as we climbed up and over a big ridge. We passed the wilderness sign as we crested the ridge and then it was all downhill to Manter meadow. We took the southern trail around the meadow (Larry swears this was the longer way, but according to the map it's pretty much the same distance either way) and about halfway around the meadow we stopped and dropped our packs and took a nice break to enjoy the beautiful scenery!
Entering the Dome Land Wilderness
Arriving at Manter meadow
Manter meadow
Manter meadow
After our break we made our way around to the east side of the meadow and found a great spot to setup camp near Manter creek. As we made camp the clouds were building. Once we were all settled at camp I was ready to explore, but with our lack of sleep and the gloomy forecast Larry decided to just hangout at camp and take a little nap. So just me and the dogs headed out to go explore the Church domes!
From the south end of the meadow we took the Woodpecker trail out to the domes. As we got near them we left the trail and climbed up to the base of the domes and started exploring the area. As we did it began to rain. It wasn't really heavy rain, but it was enough that I decided to take shelter under a rock overhang. After only 20 minutes or so the rain subsided and I continued my exploration. I was having lots of fun, climbing ALL OVER the many domes! The rock was great quality for climbing with lots of fun class 3-4 and the scenery up there was absolutely spectacular. I live for adventures like this.
Approaching the Church Domes
Getting to the base of the domes
Exploring Church Domes
Exploring Church Domes
Exploring Church Domes
Exploring Church Domes
Having fun climbing on the domes
After checking out all the domes we dropped back down to the Woodpecker trail and took it back to our camp by Manter creek. As we hiked back the clouds began to clear. I got back and told Larry all about the adventure. We made some dinner and then climbed up on the hill by our camp to a nice spot overlooking the meadow where we had some drinks and watched the sun set behind the mountains.
Hiking back to camp
Getting back to Manter meadow
Watching the sunset
The next morning we woke up, had some breakfast, loaded up our day packs, and headed out to spend the day climbing Rockhouse peak! We hiked down the Manter trail which followed along Manter creek for a few miles and then climbed up onto the south ridge of Rockhouse peak. From there we left the trail and started ascending the peak. We made our way around the southern cliff faces and onto the northern face. The last few hundred feet was a steep rocky climb with a bit of fun exposed class 3 climbing to get to the top. The huge views from the summit were incredible and the weather was perfect!
Manter creek
Larry getting ready for the climb
Ascending the south ridge of Rockhouse peak
Views from the north face of Rockhouse peak
Climbing the north face
Getting on the exposed class 3
Climbing up the final exposed ridge to the summit
On the summit!!
We hung out for awhile on the summit enjoying the awesome scenery and then headed back down to the Manter trail and back up the trail to our camp. When I got back to camp I noticed Larry wasn't behind me... he had been there just a few minutes before. I waited at camp expecting him to show up, but after a few minutes of not seeing him I went looking. I found him pretty quick. He wasn't far from the camp, but had lost the trail somehow and got turned around and was totally lost even though he was only a few hundred feet from camp! After that we enjoyed one more night at our camp, then the next morning we packed up our stuff and started hiking back out to the trailhead. This time we took the northern trail around Manter meadow and I'm glad we did because we got to see a big black bear! I love getting to see the wildlife. From there we climbed back over the ridge to the trailhead at Big meadow, finishing up another awesome adventure!!
Having fun on Rockhouse peak
Larry descending from Rockhouse peak
Hiking back to camp
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Awesome adventure as always. While the scenery is amazing, those mountain meadows always get me. They are a perfect place to build a cabin and retire at, minus the 10' of winter snow.
The Kern plateau (where Domeland and Golden Trout wildernesses are) is packed full of amazing meadows and actually has the largest meadows in all of he Sierra. In the old days it was (and to a much smaller extent it still is)a heaven for equestrians up there.(When it's not 10" deep in snow. lol.) The really crazy thing to think about is at one point all these huge meadows were giant lakes! And although that seems incredible... then you think about the fact that at one time even Badwater basin was a giant fresh water lake!
Hiya, just swinging by to let you know that this post made the Honorable mentions list in the Travel Digest #250.
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Sweeeet! You are da bomb @steemitworldmap. That's why I be sure to upvote EVERY travel digest! I love you guys fo sho. lol.
Thank you so much for being part of the #socalsteemit community.
This looks like such an adventure! There is so much to do and see and I am glad you shared so many pictures so we get a "feel" of how expansive it is!
Also,I'm like "what kind of animal is that? OH, it's Skinny!"
Haha! There was this one guy looking at some of my pictures from east fork a few years ago and he thought Skinny was a chupacabra! lol
Lovely scenery! That is a beautiful meadow and the Church Domes are awesome! Great shots of those big rocks! Thanks for taking #steemitbloggers onto this adventure with you! 😊
It's my pleasure really. So thank you for checking out my adventure! I'm happy you enjoyed it.
Amazing views! You are so at ease atop the domes and peaks. Thanks for sharing your exploration with us!
Ya, the views from Rockhouse peak were really amazing! After climbing so many peaks I feel like now I can more easily suppress the adrenaline rush, allowing me to stay calm and focused which makes everything much easier and much safer.
You are so right on. Controlling those adrenaline spikes are key!
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