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Recommends...
The High Sierra: Peaks, Passes, and Trails
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Mount Dana Dayhike
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We drove up to Yosemite on the morning of September 12th, picked up a wilderness permit for the Vogelsang Lake area, and started our hike at noon sharp. The only problem was: a) the trail to the summit is not officially maintained, and b) I had not brought a printout of the standard route from summitpost.com. I knew the route started from somewhere around Tioga Pass, and also that the route roughly ascended the northwest slopes of the mountain, so we parked in the small lot just west of the pass and somewhat haphazardly started walking southeast.
We followed game trails through a verdant forest for a while, but I knew we must be off-route for one simple reason: the official trail climbs 3500 feet in about three miles, and we had barely climbed at all over about a mile. So I repeated to Kim the nearly-unassailable adage: "When in doubt, go uphill." Up, up and away, we moved southeast up a 30° slope, aided in spots by lovely grass. Strenuous, considering that we'd just driven up from sea level. Luckily we generally are not afflicted by altitude sickness. Views are fantastic; better than the standard route's, from what I've heard. Panoramic views from Kuna Crest to Tuolumne Meadows to the omnipresent Mount Conness.
After an hour or so of elapsed time, we crest a small ridge and finally re-glimspe Mount Dana's summit. We move uphill, across the grassy slopes of a high cirque, amazed at how enjoyable this cross-country route has been. Soon we are plying our way up the well-beaten use trail toward the summit, meeting a few parties on the way down. Although the summit looks like a pile of slag from a distance, it is actually more granitic than metasedmentary (a la Gibbs, Koip, Kuna, et al.), so the talus tends to be a bit more stable. Within 2 hours and 15 minutes of starting, we're on the summit. We meet an older (mid 40's) gentleman on the summit and chat for a while. Soon a younger dude in dreadlocks, panting heavily, joins us. We eat a lunch on the summit and bask in windless conditions for 30 minutes. Great views all around, though I admittedly am disappointed by heavily smoky/smoggy conditions to the west. Still, views to Mono Lake are unparalleled compared to what I've seen (Bloody Canyon, Koip Peak, Dunderberg Peak), and the Dana Plateau looks really neat.
On the descent, we elect to use the climber's trail. Though more direct and a bit faster, I'm not sure it was more enjoyable than our route up. We were back to the car by 16:30 or so. All-in-all, an enjoyable summit. We had our dinner in Tuolumne Meadows, then headed down to Lee Vining for some tea and relaxation before settling down for a night of illegal camping near the Tuolumne wilderness permit station.
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Department of Geophysics Stanford University |
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