So, what brought about a trip to Half Dome? Well, my summer has consisted of evenings
and weekends, so I've tried to make them count. When Kristin said, "Lets go to
Half Dome!" I said "How 'bout August 28th?"
We had to pack up my car with people and the trunk with gear and food for the bears. We
grabbed Kari and my new roommate Rob to join us.
After a good nights sleep on the floor of Kari's house, we piled down some muffins and
donuts and hit the road at about 6:30am. Thankfully, the wildfires had been controlled enough
to allow us the short route into Yosemite. After a moratorium from the cd player, listening
to about 15 minutes of white noise, driving through some leftover smoke, and a bathroom stop
we arrived and were on the trail at 11am.
A couple miles up the trail starts a steep staircase on the Mist Trail. When there's a decent
water flow, you'll get a good cool down. We weren't that lucky this time. But we still
managed to get the traditional portrait shot. Even with my new digital camera and its
instant review option, I still didn't avoid putting everyone's face in a shadow. Of
course, the heat of the sun made it more attractive to stay in the shade. At least
Vernal Falls in the background is lit well.
We stopped just above Vernal Falls at Emerald Pool for our first rest stop. This is
apparently a rather popular area, as the locals immediately came out to join us. They
really wanted some of our trail mix. Kari was chased off pretty quick, while Kristin
and Rob were left to guard the packs. Somehow, all six or so squirrels managed to hide
behind rocks the instant that I clicked this picture.
We didn't really stop at Nevada Falls, but we saw it along the side of the trail.
A couple hours later we found ourselves approaching the last set of switchbacks and the
infamous cables just beyond. Kristin and Rob were tearing up the mountain as they unknowingly
unloaded all their water onto me. Kari stopped for a duct tape blister repair, while
I looked for some photo ops.
Ahh, the top. We made it! We're standing at about 8,842 feet, about 4,800 feet from the valley
floor. The combination of the setting sun and the smoke stuck in the valley from
the area fires produced some ghostly views. Rob and I walked across the top of half the dome, supposedly seven football fields in area.
I believe that is Mt. Starr King in the background, towering in at just over 9,000 feet, we
were nearly eye level with it. To the right of us was the smoke of a blazing fire not yet
controlled. The sun was clearly setting by the time we made it back down to Little Yosemite Valley.
I managed to get this profile of Half Dome as the soft light brought out its colors.
This shot gives you a good idea of the incline the cables are placed on. Looking at where
the rock meets the horizon, the cables start at the bottom of that big dip. They go up the
almost 40 degree slope on the left. After a tree fell down nearby, the girls decided they'd scare the bears off by singing.
Apparently, Rob was the bear, or so he thought. Fortunately, we had a couple flashlights
with us. Well, as we soon found out, we weren't the only ones hiking down at night. We met up
with some people from Bakersfield, but they had no flashlights. They added some excitement
to our return. All in all it was a good strenuous hike, and no one came down dehydrated!
So there we were 11 hours later, we were back in the car heading back to Davis, making for
a 21 hour day.
Miscellaneous Pictures
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