I had originally planned to do a hike to Bunnell Point above Little Yosemite
Valley, but the smoke that had filled the Valley the past two days was
originating from up in that area so I decided to find something else. Devils
Dance Floor is a minor summit on the north rim at its far western end. It is
most easily reached from the Tamarack Flat Campground, a short mile-long hike
with modest gain. There is informal parking for day use outside the campground
boundary which is marked along the road. When I arrived at the turnoff on SR120
around 7a I was surprised to see 
the road gated with a sign,
"Camp Full".
Did they close the gate at night to keep from disturbing the campers? Another
car that was already there when I arrived took off soon after it was apparent
that no one was coming to open the gate at 7a. Would they open it at 8a? The
campground is 3mi from SR120 so it seemed I could probably walk down the road
to get there around 8a. No sense waiting around, I figured, so I parked the van
and heading out.
A sign near the start says "Rough Road" but it appears to have been recently
paved and was as smooth a road as one could imagine though fairly narrow. It
looked pretty clean, too, with hardly any debris on the road which made me
expect it was still being used for the season. A few 
deer along the way
ran off
as I approached, but otherwise it was a nice hike through the woods, dropping in
elevation from about 7,000ft at the start to 6,300ft (this is one of those hikes
where you start off higher than the summit you're after) when I reached
the campground.
I found the place deserted and judging from the tags still left on
the posts outside the campsites, it had just closed the previous weekend - good
thing I didn't wait until 8a for someone to open the gate because I'd still be
sitting there. Despite the 
plague warning
on the bathroom door I used the
facilities before continuing on, wandering through the campground in a
southerly direction until I crossed a dry creek and started up a modest slope
out of the drainage. I reached a large, open 
granite slab area south
of the highpoint that seemed flattish and might qualify for the Devils Dance
Floor, but upon reaching 
the summit I found it, too, to be broad and
flattish and equally worthy of the name. There was 
a benchmark located
here as well, labeled as "Dance Hall." 
The views here could be decent
if it weren't for the
smoke filling much of the Valley to the south. The sunshine felt good with nary
a breeze and I took about 20min to relax and warm myself in the sun. This seems
like it would make a good nap spot.
After returning to the campground, I hiked back up the road, this time
disturbing a juvenile bear that was minding its own business on the side of the
road. When it spotted me approaching it looked up, pausing only briefly before
darting off into the woods almost silently. I didn't even have enough time to
get a snapshot off before it was out of sight. It was 10a by the time I had
hiked most of the road back to the highway and noticed on my GPSr that there
was an easy bonus peak only half a mile away, practically next to the highway.
I wandered 
cross-country over that way (coming across an
old corral along the way), tagged the non-descript 
summit and
mosied back to where I'd 
left the van. It was barely 10:30a but seemed
a good time to start for home. I'd be back
again in a few weeks if all went well...