Atop Fresno Dome & Back Down
On Saturday the second half of our hiking two-fer in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Oakhurst was Fresno Dome. I already posted part 1 of 2 of the hike, us getting to the first vista of Fresno Dome. From there we steeled ourselves for the ascent to the summit.
On the one hand the trail to the summit is not that steep. I mean, I've done worse. On the other hand, it is steep. And it's up, up, up. Thankfully it's short, maybe a bit over 1/4 mile. But man, is that the longest quarter mile. Knowing the views that await us at the top helped keep us going. Plus, we didn't come this far to quit early.
We had the summit of Fresno Dome mostly to ourselves. There were one other pair of hikers there. Fortunately, like us, they we relatively quiet, talking gently between themselves about life in general- a thing that one tends to think of when surrounded by 360° views like this.
The smoke in the area from a wildfire 50 miles away near Fresno kept the view from being as amazing as they should have been. But they were still inspiring. On a clearer day you can see all the way down into the Central Valley from up here. Looking west, as the camera is pointed in the picture above, the next taller peak than Fresno Dome is Mt. Fuji. In Japan. 6,000 miles away.
Soon enough it was time to head down the mountain. We left the summit a bit after 4pm having worked out a schedule: We'd be back to the car around 4:30 and down the mountain to Oakhurst by 5:30. We'd stop in town for dinner somewhere delicious, aim to hit the road again by 6:15, and with a stop to stretch our legs in Los Banos in the middle of the rest of the drive home- and probably treat ourselves to ice cream there- we'd be home at 10pm. That would even leave us time for a soak in the hot tub after unloading the car, as the pool is open 'til 11pm Fri/Sat.
Updates (3): Dinner was absolutely delicious. A number of new restaurants seem to have opened in Oakhurst since last year, so it's no longer the dining desert it used to be. We did, in fact, stop for ice cream in Los Banos. It was also delicious. And we did get home just before 10pm but were too tired to use the hot tub until Sunday evening.
But before we did any of that- well, after we got back to our car but before we got down to Oakhurst- we caught an interesting view of Fresno Dome from the forest road.
Link: watch video on YouTube
From atop Fresno Dome it's hard to get a sense of how high you are above the valley. Mostly you're looking at other peaks. Then from down here it's like, "Whoa, that's a tall mountain!"
In beauty I walk.
On the one hand the trail to the summit is not that steep. I mean, I've done worse. On the other hand, it is steep. And it's up, up, up. Thankfully it's short, maybe a bit over 1/4 mile. But man, is that the longest quarter mile. Knowing the views that await us at the top helped keep us going. Plus, we didn't come this far to quit early.
We had the summit of Fresno Dome mostly to ourselves. There were one other pair of hikers there. Fortunately, like us, they we relatively quiet, talking gently between themselves about life in general- a thing that one tends to think of when surrounded by 360° views like this.
The smoke in the area from a wildfire 50 miles away near Fresno kept the view from being as amazing as they should have been. But they were still inspiring. On a clearer day you can see all the way down into the Central Valley from up here. Looking west, as the camera is pointed in the picture above, the next taller peak than Fresno Dome is Mt. Fuji. In Japan. 6,000 miles away.
Soon enough it was time to head down the mountain. We left the summit a bit after 4pm having worked out a schedule: We'd be back to the car around 4:30 and down the mountain to Oakhurst by 5:30. We'd stop in town for dinner somewhere delicious, aim to hit the road again by 6:15, and with a stop to stretch our legs in Los Banos in the middle of the rest of the drive home- and probably treat ourselves to ice cream there- we'd be home at 10pm. That would even leave us time for a soak in the hot tub after unloading the car, as the pool is open 'til 11pm Fri/Sat.
Updates (3): Dinner was absolutely delicious. A number of new restaurants seem to have opened in Oakhurst since last year, so it's no longer the dining desert it used to be. We did, in fact, stop for ice cream in Los Banos. It was also delicious. And we did get home just before 10pm but were too tired to use the hot tub until Sunday evening.
But before we did any of that- well, after we got back to our car but before we got down to Oakhurst- we caught an interesting view of Fresno Dome from the forest road.
Click to viewLink: watch video on YouTube
From atop Fresno Dome it's hard to get a sense of how high you are above the valley. Mostly you're looking at other peaks. Then from down here it's like, "Whoa, that's a tall mountain!"
In beauty I walk.