Tehipite Dome 7708′
Sierra Nevada
Total Time: 11:30
Distance: 26.3 miles
Elevation Gain: 8100′
Crux: Class 3
Trailhead: Racheria TH, no services
Tucked in the backcountry of Kings Canyon National Park at 7,708′ is lonely Tehipite Dome. Hidden from sight from any roads or major trails, the largest granite dome in California not only goes unnoticed, but is often completely unknown outside of peakbaggers and rock climbers. But with a vertical relief of over 3,500′ above the Middle Fork of the Kings River (more than El Capitan over Yosemite Valley) it is an absolutely worthy objective. In fact, despite being the second shortest summit on the Sierra Club Sierra Peak Section List, it is one of 35 Mountaineers Peaks on the entire list of 247. Given the lower elevation, I had been saving it for a fall day, but the Creek Fire ruined my chances the year before. However some storms in the area brought the temperatures down across the Sierra, and with chances for more storms all day, it seemed like a good objective that would keep me in treeline for the day. From home, it was a little over two hours to reach the Rancheria trailhead in Sierra National Forest, driving a bit further past on a rough road to the “shortcut trailhead” described on Summitpost, saving me about a mile of hiking each way. I followed the short and steep use trail to the Rancheria trail, made a mental note of where to turn off for my return, and started down the trail.
This was my second time hiking in the area, the first being a climb of Spanish Mountain many years prior. Despite being fairly remote there were a number of well maintained trails, mostly used by pack riders and cattle drivers that bring their stock into the high country during summer. I passed a number of junctions early, slowly working my way uphill to Crown Valley Station, a backcountry ranger station and roughly the halfway point of the approach.
The Crown Valley Station was closed up and I sat for a short break a bit under 6 miles in for the day. I hadn’t been sitting long when a helicopter suddenly ripped overhead, not 50′ above the trees. I jumped up and started chasing it, wondering if there was a rescue in progress. I could hear it land and idle, and had nearly caught up to it at Johnson’s Cow Camp when it took back off and tore in the other direction. There were a few people at the camp carrying things from the meadow, and I figured it was just a supply drop for the cow camp and lost interest quickly.
Continuing on into Crown Valley, the trail slowly descends towards Crown Creek, entering a burn scar that I figured would be rather unpleasant on the way out- uphill and entirely in the sun.
It was about 10 AM when I reached Crown Creek, going a bit over 9 miles in the 3 hours since starting out. I hadn’t had much of my water with clouds providing shade overhead, and with Tehipite Dome only about 3 miles away, I figured I would have enough to get there and back. So after a short break I continued along the trail. Shortly after starting out, I crossed into Kings Canyon National Park, continuing the steep uphill climb until reaching a large cairn near Point 7877′.
I cut cross country at the cairn, hoping to pick up a use trail. But I had no such luck, and quickly found myself side hilling in loose dirt and pine needles. It wasn’t the worst cross country I’ve been through and the brush was easy to avoid, but still slow and tedious. I contoured around several drainages, ultimately making my way onto the north ridge of Tehipite Dome, the summit itself coming into view for the first time all day.
I went up and over a few false summits and to the saddle just below the summit and start of the small amount of scrambling for the day. Secor rates the north ridge of Tehipite class 3, although trip reports say it’s easy to get into class 4 terrain if you’re not careful. Moving across a ledge system on the east (left) side of the dome, I found the key notch with a large pine tree and scrambled back up to the ridgeline and crux move, a mantle onto a sloping block.
The move was tricky but I think my height definitely helped. From there it was very easy scrambling up to the highpoint with outstanding views across the Middle Fork of the Kings River. It had taken a bit under 2.5 hours from Crown Creek, my speed dropping considerably in the cross country portion. The summit register was wet despite being in the standard Sierra Club cylinder, and it seemed like the summit saw a handful of ascents every year, a mix between peakbaggers and technical rock climbers taking more difficult and longer routes from below.
I had a quick lunch and took some photos before heading back down the ridge, reversing the moves at the crux and getting back into the forest. I thought I would try a more direct cross country line across the drainages rather than side hilling on loose dirt, and initially this worked out well, findings only a small patch of buckhorn to deal with. Even hiking back uphill from the drainage wasn’t too horrible… until I made the decision to contour around Point 7877′ instead of going back up and over. I hadn’t realized the north side was in the burn scar, and as I rounded the corner, I was met with a wall of buckthorn and manzanita, causing me to climb back up anyways and cancel out any time I had saved with the more direct line. I killed what little water I had left once back on the trail and half jogged back down to Crown Creek, taking a longer break to filter water and soak my feet in the creek for the long hike out. Similar to hikes in the Grand Canyon, most of my elevation gain was on the return, climbing from Crown Creek below 7,000′ up and out of Crown Valley around 8,500′. I soaked my shirt in the river before starting up through the exposed burn scar, the promised afternoon thunderstorms never seeming to materialize. I took a short break near Cow Camp along with one more to filter another liter of water along a branch of cabin creek.
I reached my car about 11.5 hours after starting, not bad for a 26 mile day. I hopped in the car and headed out, stopping in Prather for dinner before getting home after dark.