Day 4 – Half Dome Day Trip
June 20 – Crane Flat, Yosemite
The 6AM alarm came and by 6:15 everyone was in the car and heading towards Yosemite. We got to the valley around 6:45 after abandoning our search for the Starbucks we were on the trail at 7:15.
Hiking Half Dome is a 10 to 14 hour pursuit and covers approximately 17 miles and 5,500 feet of elevation gain and loss. The valley floor is at 4,000 feet and the top of half dome is 8,800 feet.
The parking lot was surprisingly full as clearly we were in the second wave of climbers not the first. The hike was wonderful as you might imagine. The first two hours walk past two incredible waterfalls that were flowing add an amazing rate. Around 10am we were passed little Yosemite Valley Campground. At 1pm we stopped for lunch in the shade of a tree, an hour shy of the final ascent and with the most amazing view!
Around 2:00 we were at the cables. The final assessment of Half Dome is to climb up the curved part of the backside approximately 500 feet almost straight up. The cables provide quite the optical illusion as it looks when you arrive as if they literally go straight up but when you’re climbing on them you realize that it is mostly a 45°-60° angle and while it will take some upper body strength to pull yourself as you walk up the slick rock it isn’t nearly as challenging as it looks.
The real challenge is navigating the piles of people who are attempting to go up and down differing pieces. And going up or down with one cable is not nearly as comfortable or easy it’s doing it two. But there are so many people coming down when you’re coming up at that time but it’s not really possible to use both cables. So much of the climb was spent walking up 10 feet and waiting for a few minutes until you walk your next 10 feet up.
But even with the long climb up we were all impressed at our abilities to manage our fear. Tyler had a harness and could be clipped in as he climbed up the cables. Evie had a makeshift version with Tom’s belt and some carabiners. But still, it’s terrifying to climb up a sheer rock face where if you look in any direction your brain tells you that you should not be where you are!
The 20 minute climb took closer to an 45 minutes, but everyone was friendly and now one freaked out. The top was an exhilarating sense of accomplishment with a panoramic view from the top of the world that is mind boggling gorgeous. While sitting at the top, Tyler said “it would be cool see someone come up over there having just rock-climbed the face…” and minutes later they did! A lovely young couple who were glowing with their accomplishment.
We enjoyed the incredible views for a good 30 minutes before making our descent. Going down was much faster and easier as we were the last coming off the top and had the cables pretty much to ourselves. Back at the base of the cables at 3:30 we began the long walk to the valley floor.
After about an hour, the exhaustion started to kick in and everyone was feeling it. We leap-frogged back-and-forth with other hikers making their way back down. Other than a quick stop to cool off in a mountain stream and to refill our water bottles, we walked mostly non stop until the top of Nevada Falls. There we took a different route down I’ll be longer John your trail but a route that is less steep and more panoramic. We were rewarded with incredible views of Half Dome and even a mountain shower. Part of the John Muir Trail runs underneath the section that is often has run off and today the run off created a perfect light shower down the edge of the trail.
After our shower, we were then treated to the most spectacular view of the Nevada Falls with half dome in the background. We were there at around 6:30, 3 hours since coming off of Half Dome. At eight at clock we were back at our car almost exactly 13 hours after we had left it.
Unfortunately the arrival of the car was spoiled by some unexpected Dr Pepper hang grenades. Not accounting for the elevation gain in the extreme heat in the car or even the fact that the Dr Pepper was in the car a 12 pack of sodas had exploded dripping soda down Evie‘s dresser and all over her stuff. It was a decidedly sub optimal way to end a long day, However we managed to deal with the disaster and drag our exhausted bodies to the Yosemite Valley Lodge for some food court burger fries and Frappachinos!
It should be noted that Sue deserves the equipment champion award of the year. Her 30-year-old Lowe boots w which have literally traveled around the world, will be giving to have the soul,. It was noticed near the top of Nevada Falls by another hiker. Within another few miles of hiking the first sole had come completely off which Sue managed to reattach with bandage tape. Shortly after that the second sole came off. Miraculously we met someone who is willing to share their last bit of duct tape which Sue used to wrap the heel and the toe of the second boot. Later we acquired electrical tape and some wire. Amazingly Sue – earning her playa name Mrs. hobo – finished the hike up to Half Dome , climbed up Half Dome and the crazy cables, And all the way back down it was only with in the last five minutes of the hike that the wire finally completely unraveled and the second soul fell completely off. What an amazing effort! Sue was winning fashion awards up and down the trail.
At 10pm we were snug in our bags, exhausted.