This spot in Tuolumne has always been a special one for me. From here, all the domes are visible — each one familiar, each one carrying a piece of my history. Fairview Dome, my favorite, sits right across the way, steady and unmistakable, the anchor of this whole high‑country panorama.
I lugged my first 4x5 up here in 1981, young and stubborn enough to think nothing of the weight. I made a special chrome that day, one I treasured for years before it slipped away somewhere along the path of life. I’ve returned now and then over the decades, never as often as I meant to, but always with the same quiet anticipation. I let the quiet slip away in the around 2000.
In 2024, I made the climb again. Maybe it felt a bit harder this time — it had been decades since my last visit, 1996 if memory serves — but the moment I reached the top, the years dissolved. The place welcomed me back the way Tuolumne always does: without ceremony, without explanation, simply by being itself.
Late in the day, wonderful clouds drifted in, catching the light in that effortless, generous way this high country has. Standing there again, after so many years, I felt the same mix of gratitude and wonder I had in 1981. Some places stay with you for a lifetime. And some places, if you’re lucky, let you return to who you were when you first found them.
