Here is a track of the hike, starting at the left with Dome Rock on the right. Just to reach the trailhead for the unmarked trail was a bit of an adventure, ending with four miles on a rough gravel road. The trail to Tumble Lake would have been very pretty, but would mean dropping over 1,000 feet to the lake and then climbing back out.
This is a 3-dimensional view of the area, with Dome Rock marked on the right.
We had a dozen people on our hike. The trail was not marked, and early on, we took a wrong turn here. It took over 30 minutes to figure out the correct direction, largely helped by my DeLorme GPS app on my iPhone. It was a great group of people to hike with.
Much of the trail was narrow and without a view, but once the views started coming, they were amazing. Here is a view of Tumble Lake over 2,000 feet below us.
There were also some cool rock formations.
From the top of Dome Rock were 360 degree views that were just fabulous.
The views were so nice that I couldn't resist asking for someone to add me to one. Hopefully, it does not spoil the picture.
Many of us wanted to linger on the beautiful summit a bit longer, but our leader was worried about weather coming in, so she insisted that we head down after about 20 minutes. I had a scary moment on the way down. In a very narrow and steep section of the trail, a marmot had undercut the trail and it gave way under my left foot. The slope was about 60 degrees, and I slid about 20 feet before I could stop my momentum. Other than a scraped up arm, I was all right, but my adrenalin sure spiked during that time!
Dome Rock was a fantastic way to begin a week of hiking in Central Oregon!
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