HALF DOME!
Okay, so this is a wee bit late. I only did this a month ago, lol. Okay, so about eight months ago, we batted the idea of hiking half dome, one of THE hikes to do in California. One of the many comments was "hey, we're not getting any younger!" We started out with quite a large crew of interested parties, but by the time we went, it was just myself, ajmeow, Wei-Ling and Ben. Partly because it was a pretty huge time commitment. We were doing practice hikes every weekend for two months, spending a lot of time on the elliptical at the gym, and even climbing the stairs at work at lunch. I strongly recommend Bay Area Hikes, a web listing of every vaguely hikeable piece of dirt in Northern California. We also would not have been nearly prepared enough without the invaluable advice from Hike Half Dome.
So I'll skip to the last page of the book first. Here is half dome:
To put it in context, here is a map:
The total hike, not including the hike from the parking lot, is 15.6 miles and 4800 feet of climbing. Eep! Basically, you hike the straight path up, which is a pretty brutal climb up a canyon of glorified stairs (I took the loopy path back, which is a lot easier on the knees, but is a mile and half longer... jury is still out if that is what I'd recommend). Once you hit the saddle at Little Yosemite Valley, the hike is flat-ish as it goes around the back of half dome. Once you hit the other side, the climb becomes more and more brutal, ending with the infamous cables.
There is no water on the hike, which means packing it all in. I brought 140 ounces of water, and I needed it all. We woke up at 4:30 (eep) and started hiking well before sunrise. It was actually gorgeous out there, unbelievable stars for a city girl like me. However, I knew that the expected weather for that day (96 degrees) and very little sleep would end up being a problem. Plus the omgBLISTERS that I had from the prior weekend, which are only now starting to heal. Eep!
The first climb is pretty tough, which is the climb up Vernal Falls. Here is the only pic of me as I'm gasping my way up the Vernal Falls stairs just before sunrise.
I wasn't doing very well at this point, so I convinced the others to move on ahead with plans to meet them at the end of the day at the trailhead. I entertained going back to the car to get my kindle, lol. However, about 20 minutes later, I hit my groove and just powered up the rest of the way.
This section of the hike is called the Mist Trail, as normally you are walking through the heavy mist of the waterfalls. Beautiful, yes, but also dangerous and soggy. However, since we were going so late in the season, the waterfalls were barely a trickle.
You can see from the marks on the the canyon walls how big Vernal Falls usually runs
Next comes Nevada Falls. While the climb is approximately the same in feet, it definitely seems easier because a majority of it is on thin granite steps (you can see them on the bottom left), rather than the 20" steps for Vernal. Also, at this point I had hit my stride and was enjoying the hike and scenery. One thing I truly enjoyed about this hike was the sense of camaraderie that existed on the trail. Everyone was very sociable and we had lots of fun chatting while going up.
The sun hits the top of Half Dome first, which is just starting to peek over the canyon wall. Looks close doesn't it? LIES.
Three deer that were hanging out right next to the trail.
Err. Trees.
More trees. Look at that sky, though! It was very hot that day, but luckily, as we climbed, the elevation was helping keeping it bearable. My little-who-knows-how-accurate temperature gauge said it was 10 degrees cooler on the top than the bottom.
And there it is, Half Dome. This was about 1pm... eight hours after we started and it doesn't seem any closer, lol. You can actually see the cables now. If you look at the map, this is where you finish the wide curve around the back of half dome. This picture was shortly before I stopped. I stopped just before the subdome, which is about a half mile from the top. Looking at the elevation gain left (800 feet, most of which at a 45 degree angle), I decided that while I thought I could get to the top, having the energy to go the almost 8 miles back would probably be a major issue. I think it was the right decision. However, next year I'm going to do better! lol
My favorite part of the hike. Going back the John Muir trail (the loopy bit on the map), you cross over the top of Nevada Falls. Everyone takes the opportunity to soak their very very tired feet in the nice and frigid glacial stream. And chat, and share food and stories. Everyone was very happy and encouraging, even if a bit exhausted.
From the top of Nevada Falls looking back at the canyon that we came up
So, the entire day I was a bit worried as I hadn't run into the others. I honestly expected to hit them coming back down wwaaayyy earlier. So, I actually borrowed people's cell phones to send them texts (as most get coverage up there, just not mine). I was booking it down because I was worried they had somehow passed me as I was running into everyone I had seen earlier in the day. In a very bizarre coincidence, I ran into them at the Vernal Falls footbridge, about 50 feet where we split up 12 hours previously. Small world! (they had taken Mist trail down). What was truly bizarre, is that we did the exact same section in the dark as we did on the way up. We were completely prepared with flashlights, and it surprised me how many people were not.
All told, I hiked a little over 14.5 miles, with about 4000 feet of climbing that day. Boo-ya.
And, lastly, the view from our campsite. Just in case I haven't sold you on Yosemite.
So I'll skip to the last page of the book first. Here is half dome:
To put it in context, here is a map:
The total hike, not including the hike from the parking lot, is 15.6 miles and 4800 feet of climbing. Eep! Basically, you hike the straight path up, which is a pretty brutal climb up a canyon of glorified stairs (I took the loopy path back, which is a lot easier on the knees, but is a mile and half longer... jury is still out if that is what I'd recommend). Once you hit the saddle at Little Yosemite Valley, the hike is flat-ish as it goes around the back of half dome. Once you hit the other side, the climb becomes more and more brutal, ending with the infamous cables.
There is no water on the hike, which means packing it all in. I brought 140 ounces of water, and I needed it all. We woke up at 4:30 (eep) and started hiking well before sunrise. It was actually gorgeous out there, unbelievable stars for a city girl like me. However, I knew that the expected weather for that day (96 degrees) and very little sleep would end up being a problem. Plus the omgBLISTERS that I had from the prior weekend, which are only now starting to heal. Eep!
The first climb is pretty tough, which is the climb up Vernal Falls. Here is the only pic of me as I'm gasping my way up the Vernal Falls stairs just before sunrise.
I wasn't doing very well at this point, so I convinced the others to move on ahead with plans to meet them at the end of the day at the trailhead. I entertained going back to the car to get my kindle, lol. However, about 20 minutes later, I hit my groove and just powered up the rest of the way.
This section of the hike is called the Mist Trail, as normally you are walking through the heavy mist of the waterfalls. Beautiful, yes, but also dangerous and soggy. However, since we were going so late in the season, the waterfalls were barely a trickle.
You can see from the marks on the the canyon walls how big Vernal Falls usually runs
Next comes Nevada Falls. While the climb is approximately the same in feet, it definitely seems easier because a majority of it is on thin granite steps (you can see them on the bottom left), rather than the 20" steps for Vernal. Also, at this point I had hit my stride and was enjoying the hike and scenery. One thing I truly enjoyed about this hike was the sense of camaraderie that existed on the trail. Everyone was very sociable and we had lots of fun chatting while going up.
The sun hits the top of Half Dome first, which is just starting to peek over the canyon wall. Looks close doesn't it? LIES.
Three deer that were hanging out right next to the trail.
Err. Trees.
More trees. Look at that sky, though! It was very hot that day, but luckily, as we climbed, the elevation was helping keeping it bearable. My little-who-knows-how-accurate temperature gauge said it was 10 degrees cooler on the top than the bottom.
And there it is, Half Dome. This was about 1pm... eight hours after we started and it doesn't seem any closer, lol. You can actually see the cables now. If you look at the map, this is where you finish the wide curve around the back of half dome. This picture was shortly before I stopped. I stopped just before the subdome, which is about a half mile from the top. Looking at the elevation gain left (800 feet, most of which at a 45 degree angle), I decided that while I thought I could get to the top, having the energy to go the almost 8 miles back would probably be a major issue. I think it was the right decision. However, next year I'm going to do better! lol
My favorite part of the hike. Going back the John Muir trail (the loopy bit on the map), you cross over the top of Nevada Falls. Everyone takes the opportunity to soak their very very tired feet in the nice and frigid glacial stream. And chat, and share food and stories. Everyone was very happy and encouraging, even if a bit exhausted.
From the top of Nevada Falls looking back at the canyon that we came up
So, the entire day I was a bit worried as I hadn't run into the others. I honestly expected to hit them coming back down wwaaayyy earlier. So, I actually borrowed people's cell phones to send them texts (as most get coverage up there, just not mine). I was booking it down because I was worried they had somehow passed me as I was running into everyone I had seen earlier in the day. In a very bizarre coincidence, I ran into them at the Vernal Falls footbridge, about 50 feet where we split up 12 hours previously. Small world! (they had taken Mist trail down). What was truly bizarre, is that we did the exact same section in the dark as we did on the way up. We were completely prepared with flashlights, and it surprised me how many people were not.
All told, I hiked a little over 14.5 miles, with about 4000 feet of climbing that day. Boo-ya.
And, lastly, the view from our campsite. Just in case I haven't sold you on Yosemite.