Castle Domes, a cluster of granite formations set above a beautiful meadow in the Upper Woods Creek valley, is perhaps best known for the Southeast Arête (1,100’, IV 5.10 PG-13) on Upper Castle Dome, a striking line established by Vitaliy Musiyenko and Caitlin Taylor in 2014. While repeating that route in 2021, I noticed new route potential on Lower Castle Dome.

On September 5, Brandon Thau and I established Knights Errant, a six-pitch 5.10+ line that proved more challenging and complicated than we had anticipated. Roofs, thin seams, wide shallow cracks, crotch-stretching stemming, and even some old-school vertical bush crawling made for a fine and diverse outing. The route is easily rappelled with a single 70m rope; there is also the option of a circuitous walk-off to the west.

A knight-errant would wander the land in search of adventures to prove his chivalric virtues. The route name seemed fitting, as we had wandered into the Sierra seeking adventure and found it on the sunbaked ramparts of Lower Castle Dome.

— Dave Nettle