Distance: 8.8 miles (14.2 km) round trip
Trailhead Elevation: 8,100 feet (2,470 meters)
North Dome Elevation: 7,540 feet (2,300 meters)
The long red line marks the North Dome trail, with the trailhead starting from the north end at Tioga Road. The yellow line is the offshoot trail to the Indian Rock Arch; it's roughly half a mile long. It's not obvious from this view, but North Dome is at the north rim of Yosemite Valley, and there's a dropoff of a few thousand feet from North Dome to most of those little icons south of it, which identify landmarks in Yosemite Valley.
Though the scenery in between the trailhead and North Dome isn't particularly memorable by Yosemite standards, the hills may stick with you for a few days. Anywhere you see a squiggle on the trail route, figure that you're climbing or descending.
It's only a 4.5-mile hike from the Tioga Road's North Dome trailhead to North Dome, which is at the northern edge of Yosemite Valley, yet it's more than a 40-mile drive to get from one point to the other by car. If someone sponsored a race from the trailhead to the east end of Yosemite Valley and the contestants were a driver and a ten-minute-mile runner with a parachute, the smart money would all be on the runner.