Mount Watkins 8500′ and Yasoo Dome 8320′
Sierra Nevada
Total Time: 8:20
Distance: 15.4 miles
Elevation Gain: 5000′
Crux: Class 1
Trailhead: Camp Curry- full services
Although my Yosemite adventures tend to focus on technical climbing in the spring, I do try and set aside some time for some solo scramble adventures, the most recent being a circuit over the Cathedral Rocks as well as a traverse across Grizzly Peak, the Diving Board and Liberty Cap. I had a few ideas on my list but was a bit limited by mixed conditions and ultimately settled on a climb of Mount Watkins via Snow Creek. Despite being one of the highest summits along the Valley Rim (almost as high as Half Dome), the third largest rock face in Yosemite (after El Capitan and Half) and easily accessed from Tioga Pass, I had never visited the summit. With the approach almost entirely on south facing slopes, I knew I would find consistent conditions, and it would also give me a look into the Yosemite High Country after our epic winter. I parked at the edge of the lot of Camp Curry and cut through the Lower Pines campground, closed due to flooding from the Merced.
I crossed the river and continued along the road towards Mirror Lake, one of the more popular trails in the Valley. The trail was nearly empty given the early hour, and I took the trail along the north side of Tenaya Creek, hopping over mud puddles and small stream crossings as it lead to the lake.
The trail cuts away from the creek after Mirror Lake and leads to a junction with the Snow Creek Trail, a series of steep and exposed switchbacks that leads up to the north rim. It was my second time on the trail, the first almost exactly ten years prior on a backpack heading up the Yosemite Falls Trail, camping near North Dome and descending via Snow Creek. I was happy to be in the shade of Mount Watkins in the early morning, not having any real tree coverage until closer to the rim. Small waterfalls were pouring over the cliff faces above, many flooding the trail as I hopped across boulders higher and higher.
I took a break near this incredible cave formed by a massive exfoliating flake, a thin stream of water pouring over the top. From there, a dozen more switchbacks brought me to the rim, the trail leveling off as I entered pine forest for the first time all day. There was no snow as I followed the trail to the Snow Creek footbridge, although I immediately encountered patches on the far side.
With snow on the ground, I saw no compelling reason to stick with the trail that continued to the Snow Creek Cabin, so I set off cross country directly towards the summit of Mount Watkins. I knew the south face was technical cliffs and the north slope was an easy walk up, so I hoped the southwest slopes would split the difference, allowing steep and direct but non technical access to the summit. The patches of snow were frozen solid and easily held my weight in the early morning, although there was an incredible amount of dead and downed wood throughout the lower portions of the forest, probably the most tedious part of the day, although still nothing compared to the mess trying to get to the Clark Range from Mono Meadows. I took a short break at 7,000′ to filter water as the patches of snow started to become more consistent. Initially I just stuck to the deep suncups and was able to make good progress. But at about 7,500′, the slope became a bit too steep and icy and I needed to put on my snow shoes, not for floatation but added traction of the in-step crampon.
This worked beautifully and I continued up slope as the angle gradually lessened all the way to the summit. Although the views were good, the summit was so broad it was hard to get all the features from one spot, with Mount Hoffman and Hoffman’s Thumb to the north, Mount Conness to the northeast, Tenaya, Tressider, Echo Peaks and Matthes Crest to the east, Clouds Rest to the south and Mount Starr King and Half Dome and the Valley to the southwest and west. It was hard to tell just how deep the snow was at the summit, although several snow wells around the huge pines were at least 5 feet deep, despite the full sun on the summit!
I had climbed the 4,500′ in under 4 hours, an hour faster than the time I had given myself, and there was no reason to rush back down. So I decided to pay a visit to a nearby subpeak named Yasoo Dome to the east. I dropped off the summit of Watkins into the gully separating the two summits then climbed back out to the top of the much smaller dome. Since the summit was much smaller than Watkins the views were significantly better, with a more directly look up and down Tenaya Canyon and across the high country. Plus there was a patch of snowless granite, allowing me the chance to sit on the warm rock and appreciate the views.
After a quick lunch, I started my descent, going back up and over Mount Watkins and following my snowshoe path back down the way I came.
I stuck with snow as long as possible before removing the snow shoes, and carried them as they dried out all the way down to Snow Creek Bridge. As I was lashing the gear to my pack and filtering water, a thin hiker made his way across the bridge, the first person I had seen since the parking lot. We chatted briefly about conditions before he continued on to the rim, then abruptly turned back running towards me.
“I almost forgot to ask, do you want to smoke a joint with me!?” I had to laugh.
After politely declining, I started back down the Snow Creek Trail, passing a number of guided pack backing groups as they were huffing and puffing in full sun.
I was still ahead of schedule, and decided to complete the Mirror Lake Loop trail, having never been further up canyon to the Tenaya Creek Bridge. My maps showed it only a quarter mile further, so I turned left towards the bridge, finding a number of hikers enjoying the raging creek below.
As I continued on the south side of the loop, I quickly encountered at least a dozen trees fallen across the trail, with nowhere near the same level of upkeep as the north side. The reason for this became clear as I hit a portion of the trail completely underwater, spanning at least 100′ and ankle deep with no rocks to hop across. Since I was less than an hour from the car and my feet already damp from the snow, I decided to just plod through with my shoes on.
This led to another, much longer section of flooded trail, although I found a well defined use trail a bit higher in the forest that bypassed this section, likely created by hikers finding themselves in the same situation. I didn’t rejoin the real trail until near the base of the rockfall below the Death Slabs of Half Dome, another scramble I had in mind but one that I did not want to do on wet rock. The number of hikers rapidly increased and I darted through and past them, growing annoyed by the sudden throngs of people (although it was entirely my fault to have chosen a route that shares such a popular trail). When I reached the road, I took the connector trail to the North Pines Campground to avoid the crowds, although found this too was underwater in places. It was about 2:30 when I made it back to the car, the Camp Curry lot now overflowing despite it being a random Wednesday in May. After a quick stop at the Village store for a drink I headed out, grabbing some take out in Oakhurst and getting home in time for dinner.
