Sentinel Dome Trail

Sentinel Dome is a 2-mile (3.2 km) round trip off Glacier Point Road with a modest 400 feet of elevation gain — and one of the best payoffs in the park for the effort. The trail is wide and crosses mostly open granite with little shade before the final stretch, a short scramble up the dome's bare rock to a summit with 360-degree views of Yosemite Valley and the high Sierra, with Half Dome and El Capitan visible on clear days.

The Hike

Plan on one to two hours round trip. There's minimal shade for almost the entire route, so sun exposure is constant, and the last push to the top is a scramble across smooth granite rather than a graded path — footing matters more than distance here. Pit toilets are available at the trailhead parking area, and the trail is closed to pets and bicycles.

The Tree Ansel Adams Made Famous

The summit once held a wind-bent Jeffrey pine that Ansel Adams photographed in 1940, producing one of the most reproduced images in American landscape photography. The tree died in a 1977 drought and finally fell over in 2003, but its story is a big part of why photographers still climb up here for sunrise and sunset.

Know Before You Go

• Access: Glacier Point Road is the only way in, and it's typically open from late May through October or November depending on snowpack.
• Extend it: Sentinel Dome connects to Taft Point via the Pohono Trail for a longer loop option.
• Storms: get off the exposed granite summit immediately if a thunderstorm is building.
• After dark: the open summit is a popular sunset and full-moon hike — carry a light for the walk back down.