On Friday, June 23rd, myself, Shawnna, Dan, Kelley and Dad set off for Yosemite with the intention of hiking Half Dome (Shawnna decided to stay in Yosemite Valley and do some smaller hikes - Lower Yosemite Falls and Mirror Lake - while practicing her photography skills). We stayed in tent cabins at Curry Village which is about a half mile from the trailhead. After checking in at about 5pm, we got situated, ate dinner, showered and played Uno before getting some sleep prior to our big hike.
We woke up early on Saturday, ate a little breakfast, got our packs in order and drove to the closest parking lot to the trailhead (every bit helps :) By 6:30am we were on the trail making some progress. The temperature was in the upper 60s with the projected high in the mid 90s, so we wanted to get as far as we could before the afternoon sun started to beat down on us. We made good time hiking over the Vernal Falls bridge and up to the junction where we had to decide if we wanted to hike the next couple of miles up the Mist Trail or John Muir Trail. The Mist Trail (which runs right next to Vernal Falls so the trail is perpetually wet from the mist) is a little shorter, but much steeper due to the fact it consists mostly of stairs. The John Muir Trail is a bit longer, easier and not as scenic. Dan, Kelley and I chose the Mist Trail while Dad decided to go up the John Muir Trail. We agreed to meet at the top of Nevada falls where the trails intersect, so we went our separate ways.
The Mist Trail was especially wet since there was a ton of water in the falls, so we were soaked most of the way up. I was savoring the coolness since I knew how hot it was going to get later in the day. By 8:30am we were at the intersection of the two trails waiting for Dad to meet us. As time passed, we wondered how slow he was going, if he was waiting at the Nevada Falls bridge (.2 miles down from where we were) or if he beat us to this point and kept hiking. After 40 minutes of waiting, Dan hiked down to the bridge to see if he was there, but there was no sign of him. We decided that since we had been waiting for 1 hour at that point (and we had no way of contacting him; he didn't have a cell phone and service was spotty at best anyway), we would carry on without him and hopefully meet him at the top. So, at 9:30am we continued our hike.
Being an hour behind, we could feel the heat intensifying as we hiked through Little Yosemite Valley (a relatively flat stretch where there is a campground). Next, it was back up the mountain for a few miles of relatively steep switchbacks. There was some relief as we passed a few small streams and were able to cool off a bit. We made it to the lookout point where we were able to see our final destination as well as the large amount of granite stairs and steel cables that were still to come.
A short time later, we were at the bottom of the stairs preparing ourselves for the most grueling part of the hike - climbing literally hundreds of very large stairs carved into the granite. After hydrating and re-applying sun block, we started up the granite steps. After several short breaks to catch our breath and drink more water, we made our way up the stairs and stood at the bottom of the cables looking up at a long stream of people holding on to the cables that stretched from the top of the dome all the way down to where we were standing and there was actually a line of about 15 people waiting for their turn to climb to the top. The cables are a pair of 900 ft long steel cables spaced 4 feet apart and held 4 feet off the granite by metal posts which are spaced about 8 feet apart. Typically, people climb in between the two cables so they can hold on with both hands, but after seeing the line of people and estimating it would take about 45 minutes to reach the top, I went to the outside of the right cable and climbed up using only one cable and reaching over the other hands that were already holding on. By doing it that way, it only took me 10-15 minutes and I was on top of the dome by 1pm - Dan & Kelley made it 20 minutes later after following me part of the way, then getting back in between the two cables for the last portion.
At the top of Half Dome, we ate our lunch, nursed Kelley's cramping muscles and Dan popped the question (Kelley said, "Yes!"). We walked around for a while up on top taking pictures and video of the awesome view and Dan & I had a snowball fight - yes, there was snow on the top of Half Dome. At 2pm, we decided it was time to head back, so we made our way back to the cables which were still crowded with people and grabbed the outside of the right cable to slide down to the bottom. At the bottom of the cables, we started to hear thunder and see lightning off in the distance, so it was good timing to be off of the cables which would be great conductors of electricity if they were struck with lightning. Next, we navigated down the granite stairs from hell and continued all the way down to Nevada falls without much excitement except for the fact Dan didn't bring enough water, so I gave him some of mine. At Nevada Falls, we took off our shoes and socks so we could put our feet in the water - the water was SO COLD, but felt SO GOOD on our aching feet.
At this point, we decided to go down the John Muir Trail (as opposed to the Mist Trail we took to come up) because we didn't know if our knees could take all of the stairs and we thought we might see Dad on the side of the trail on the way down :) The trail down was hot, dry and dusty, but the end was in sight, so we just plugged along. When we made it down to the Vernal Falls Bridge (about a mile from the end where the only water station on the entire hike is located), Dan & Kelley filled up their Camelbacks and indulged in some cold water. Then, we hiked the last mile back to the trailhead where Shawnna and Dad were waiting to greet us at 6:30pm. So, we hiked 17 miles with 4,800' elevation gain in 12 hours (including the time we spent hanging out on top and the hour we waited for Dad to show up).
Apparently Dad thought we were going to meet at the Nevada Falls bridge .2 miles from where we thought, so he waited for 40 minutes before hiking down a different trail at the time Dan went to where Dad had been waiting (they missed each other by a couple of minutes). Dad decided to hike down the Mist Trail in case something happened to one of us, so he didn't get to the top of Half Dome this time (he's done it 8 times previously). Oh well, you live and learn.
Lessons Learned:
- If you split up, be very specific about where to meet
- Bring walkie talkies
- Carry more water than you think you need (4+ liters if it's hot)
- Bring band-aids, moleskin or athletic tape for blisters
- Bring an extra pair of socks
- Bring work gloves with full fingers for the cables
- Make sure you have plenty of sunscreen
After the hike, we ate dinner, showered and crashed for the night before driving home the next day. Will I hike it again? I'm sure I will. It's a great workout, fun to do with family/friends, provides awesome views of the park and I need to catch up with the number of times Dad has hiked to the top :-) Here's the stats:
Dad - 8
Dave - 4
Dan - 2
Kelley - 1
Shawnna - 1 (on a previous trip)
View the photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/52995831@N00/sets/72157594178530235/
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