J5 Wednesday 13/02 – The White Dome
Today is a day I’ve been looking forward to for a long time: the White Domes hike.
The alarm goes off just after 6 AM, and at 7 AM sharp, we dig into a hearty breakfast in preparation for the calories we’ll burn throughout the day.
Around 7:30 AM, we hit the road to Hildale. As expected, the weather is overcast. The access is easy, but for the last 2-3 km, we’re driving on a rough track with deep ruts.
(These are far from the worst ones)
At this early hour, and given the ambient temperature, the car handles the hard-packed dirt just fine!
At one point, I recognize a ravine that was mentioned a few months ago on VF, freshly regraded due to landslides. But there are deep ruts here, and we’ll need to be careful on the way back...
Along the way, we first stop near Squirrel Canyon, alongside the track, but a gate with a “No trespassing” sign makes us hesitate. Luckily, two young Americans pass by at that moment and tell us the properly marked parking lot is a bit farther down.
By 8:45 AM, we’re ready to start.
There are several ways to reach the White Domes, which are 600 meters higher:
- The shortest access, but also the roughest, is to go up Water Canyon. In winter, between the cold and the humidity, this option seemed particularly dangerous to me, especially since some sections are exposed.
- The second access via Squirrel Canyon is longer—almost 9.5 km round trip—but has the advantage of a safer, steady incline.
Thanks to all the travel journals we’ve read, especially the four by Laetitia, we go with the second option.
For safety, we set off with our emergency satellite beacon, a pair of trekking poles, and the baby carrier for Tim, even though he’s a few kilos over the weight limit (24 kg for a 20 kg limit). You never know...
The first kilometers are on a slight uphill along the river. Yes, we’ve got a real river here, whereas in spring, water is scarce!
Some parts of the river are even frozen, with patches of snow.
We follow the watercourse on the left.
Then, what had to happen, happened...
A bend in the river forces us to face a steep embankment. Either we cross the river or we try to climb the mountain. No way are we taking a dip in that icy water.
A quick glance at the GPS (where I’ve loaded the 1:25,000 topo map) shows that 2 km farther, the river turns right, while we need to go up another valley to our left. So, two river crossings are necessary.
At first, not knowing if a second crossing would be possible, we decide to climb the hill. But it quickly becomes too difficult to make progress with the slope.
I’m leading the way and slip on the frozen ground, barely catching myself with my trekking pole—otherwise, I’d have ended up in the water 10 meters below!! 🤪
No question of continuing. We turn back, and we *have* to find a way to cross the river twice.
After a bit of searching, using rocks and passing our trekking poles back and forth, the first crossing is relatively simple and even fun!
We continue without difficulty, and a few hundred meters from the fork, we find another spot where, after placing several stones, we manage to cross. Without realizing it, the poles have already come in handy three times...
We soon reach the fork and have to turn left before the mountain.
After the first 3 flat kilometers in 1 hour (with 15 minutes lost looking for the trail), we start the “ascent” of Squirrel Canyon. We spot a little snow on the path.
Nice—no one’s worried, and I take a photo before there’s even less snow farther up...
Between kilometers 3 and 6, a few sections are steeper, but overall, the hike is manageable because the incline is steady. The kids take the opportunity to review their multiplication tables or practice English. In short, the mood is great.
We’ve already climbed a lot!
But at kilometer 6, which we reach after 2 hours, just as we’re about to turn left onto the plateau, we get a nasty surprise: there’s 20-30 cm of snow on the trail. 😮
And 20-30 cm is the best-case scenario. In the dips, there’s even more. We’re all wearing Gore-Tex sneakers, but of varying quality. And for Tim, who doesn’t have Salomons (they don’t make them in his size), his shoes quickly get damp, with snow sticking to his socks or even getting inside... 🏴☠️
We still have nearly 3 km to go to reach the Domes. Turning back would be the wise choice, but no one’s ready to do that. So we press on a little farther to see how things develop.
The photos don’t do it justice, but now we’re dealing with anywhere from 20 to 50 cm of snow, depending on the spot. The kids, especially Tim, are moving slowly—*very* slowly. Every step, or rather every stride, takes a lot of effort without snowshoes... 😕 The cold starts to creep into their feet.
On this plateau, the progress through the gully quickly becomes impossible... In the dip, the snow is over 50 cm deep, so we decide to move along the slickrock slope on our right.
I recognize the plateau described in Oliv2019’s account.
Since the teepees are clearly visible, there’s no reason the White Domes shouldn’t be, so we keep going! 😉
The slope is steep, with lots of icy patches and slips, but at least we’re staying dry.
After 3 hours of hiking, we reach kilometer 8. Only 1.5 km left.
But on the final plateau, which is almost entirely flat, we can’t avoid the snow anymore, and we’re forced to trudge through a vast expanse covered in 40 cm of snow—lucky spots—or 60 cm in the dips...
Tim isn’t moving anymore; the snow sometimes comes up to his knees. He starts crying, telling me his feet are freezing. Since I don’t have a mule handy, I decide to put him in the baby carrier and carry him. Maxime offers to carry the backpack, but I refuse. It’s better for the kids to save their strength...
But the progress becomes a real ordeal—every step takes as much effort as ten without snow... We’re exhausted with every stride. Looking into the distance, if I remember the accounts correctly, we should already be able to see the White Domes. But in the right direction, we see nothing. Yet we’re only 1 km away!
I decide to turn back, knowing we’ve been hiking for 3.5 hours, but Maxime disagrees. He starts yelling that he didn’t hike all this way just to stop 1 km short of the goal!
We keep going. But with so much snow and carrying 35 kg, every stride wears me out. In 10 minutes, we only cover 100 meters. It’s 12:30 PM, and we haven’t even taken a lunch break. Those last 900 meters feel horribly far...
Knowing we need to be back down by 4 PM at the latest to avoid the forecasted rain, we’ve hit the deadline I set for myself...
The movie *Everest* comes to mind: they were so close to the goal, yet so far... No more discussion possible. If we don’t want trouble at the end of the day—exhaustion, cold, and rain/snow—we have to turn back.
Too much snow is too much! Even the bushes can’t breathe anymore...
One last look toward the White Domes.
Today, we’ll settle for the White Dome. Not the same thrill...
I grab Maxime by the collar and make him turn back. He understands there’s no choice and is disgusted! A little farther down, when we reach the first rocks, we take a break—beef jerky, bread, lots of prunes and dried apricots—to refuel. 😎
I take the opportunity to explain, with the watch as proof, that we’d passed the time limit I’d set... Timéo’s feet are a little better, but I keep carrying him.
Three times, I slip on the ice and fall flat on my side. On the third fall, in a more exposed area, Tim says: "Dad, can I walk again? I’m scared! If you’re carrying me and you fall into the ravine, I’ll die too, and I don’t want that!!" Kids say the darndest things... Nice for me, but so realistic!
On the way back, the group’s morale returns. The 8.5 km back are covered in 2 hours and 20 minutes, even with time lost finding the two river crossings.
The return along the river is a muddy mess, thanks to melting snow and thawing. 🤪
A few hundred meters before the parking lot, we spend 20 minutes cleaning our shoes in a trickle of icy water to avoid ruining the car.
We’ve barely arrived at the car when snow starts falling in a freezing wind! I look at Maxime, who then understands our decision was the wisest...
However, I’m worried about the way back, as we’ll have to cross the section with deep ruts. We drive carefully—too carefully, even—because when we reach the ravine, the car veers dangerously to the side, guided by a huge rut. The front left wheel comes within 20 cm of the embankment 😮! But with a burst of gas and a sharp turn of the wheel, the four-wheel drive works wonders and straightens us out.
I can’t even imagine if we’d gotten a $40,000 4x4 stuck without insurance for that! I know someone who would’ve taken it to another level—way beyond just sticking a needle in a voodoo doll 🤪!! And the travel journal still wouldn’t have started 😛...
The rest of the return trip goes smoothly, and we head to our hotel, the Rodeway Inn in Hurricane, for a quiet evening.
I tell the kids I’m really proud of what they accomplished in those conditions, and that in normal weather, without snow, they would’ve easily reached the White Domes. Not one of them complained, except when Tim’s feet were frozen and he couldn’t feel his toes. We could’ve even done the 2.5 km extension to The Notch!
The kids are already asking if, next time we come out West, we’ll do this hike again because they’re determined to finish it!!
That evening, when I see the cold wave about to hit Sedona and Route 66, I lose morale and start a thread on VF asking for help on places to visit even farther south than Route 66... We’ll see what comes of it.
Summary: At first glance, this hike is a huge disappointment. And it’s true... Yet it’s not for lack of checking the weather sites in the weeks leading up to the trip. I never would’ve imagined there could be so much snow at an altitude barely 600 meters higher than Hildale... On the spot, as we progressed, it would’ve been wiser to turn back at the first centimeters of snow, but we always held out hope—until our strength gave out and we passed the time limit.
But in hindsight, we know this is the day that will mark us the most, the one that will stay etched in our memories forever. The kids learned the value of effort, self-improvement, cold resistance, teamwork, and above all, the hardest lesson: giving up so close to the goal... But we’ll have our revenge!
