Fin Dome, up close, in the Kings Canyon Wilderness along the Rae Lakes Loop

 

Here is Fin Dome in the Kings Canyon Wilderness from the east looking west. It makes a very high, noticeable feature along a ridge that is in the middle of the Rae Lakes Loop, which starts in Kings Canyon and loops around passing Mist Falls and passing by the Rae Lakes on the far side of the loop. We spent 4 days backpacking around the 40-or-so-mile loop, but afterward, we wished we had taken another day. We knew that this feature has climbing routes on it and we saw climbers heading for it. It doesn't so much like a fin from this perspective, but further north or south from here, it did.

Canon EOS Rebel xSi, f19, 1/250 sec, ISO 800, 55 mm focal length

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Fin Dome reflected in Dollar Lake, Kings Canyon National Park

In July, 2012, we backpacked a well-known loop trail in Kings Canyon National Park. The loop is called the Rae Lakes Loop. It starts and ends at Roads End, which is where California Highway 180 ends, inside Kings Canyon. The loop can be taken clockwise or counter-clockwise. We decided to go clockwise, going into Paradise Valley for the first day, joining the John Muir Trail on the second day to reach the Rae Lakes, continuing over Glen Pass and starting down Bubbs Creek the third day, then back to Roads End on the fourth day.

On the first day, we spent quite a bit of time photographing Mist Falls, so we didn't get as far along the trail as we were planning. That also effected the next day's plans, and we didn't reach the Rae Lakes on the second day, but settled for camping alongside the much smaller Dollar Lake. It turns out that camping at Dollar Lake was one of those serendipitous moments. The next morning, while we prepared breakfast, we started looking at Fin Dome, the very prominent granite feature on the horizon north of us. Hoping to find a good photographic angle on the dome, we found that it was being reflected in the lake's water, which is how we got the image above. After we packed and started hiking toward the Rae Lakes, Fin Dome remained a prominent feature along the trail for most of that day, but the reflected view of it in the lake was the best view we had.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.