Half Dome

Alright, this was the entire purpose of the trip, to hike to the top of Half Dome. My bag was packed the prior night. The alarm went off way to early for me, at 6:00am. After filling my water bladder, and grabbing a snack, I was off. I'll be keeping a time log via when these photos were taken to give everyone an idea of how long of a day this hike is. This, the first photo was taken at 6:32am. It's my permit sitting on my bed before I headed out.

It was a short drive to trailhead 16 where I parked. I continued eating a little more here in the car, hoping to possibly start off the hike following up some strangers. At least that way I know I'm on the right trail. Sure enough I saw another guy about my age double checking his pack before leaving his car. I clearly remember I left my car at 7:06am. The following pic was taken at 7:36am. It was official, Half Dome, here I come!

Here is the trail(s) I ended up taking.

I took the black dotted trail up. The beginning 1/3rd is called the Mist Trail. It gets it's name as you'll see shortly, having it's trail run close along Vernal Falls. During the peak season for the fall, people get drenched taking this trail. Once passed Nevada Falls, the trail is simple called the Half Dome Trail. Coming back down, I took the blue dotted trails. For the first side track in Little Yosemite Valley, I simply missed a fork in the trail. I knew it would get me where I was headed, so I didn't turn back. Once back down to Nevada Falls, I took the John Muir Trail down. I was told it was about a mile longer, but didn't have the steep steps and wet trails that the Mist Trail has. Plus I was fighting the sun setting coming down.

This is the beginning of the Mist Trail.

Shortly into the trail I was walking along this stream.

Looking back into the valley floor, I looked like I was making some progress.

You can see the rocks in front of me were fully wet.

Here's a video showing how strong this waterfall was, despite being August 31st.

Now for some, this is where things would get scary. The metal poles felt sturdy, and I felt fine.

Ah, at the top of the falls.

Nice view from up here.

Here is where the 3 hikers went over the falls recently. As you can see behind me and the railing, it's flat, smooth rock for several feet before the water. I guess the one hiker got a little to close, and slipped on a wet area of rock. The other 2 then went in trying to save the first one. None of them were seen alive again.

Now the following couple of pics show what I could call a natural water slide. It looks damn fun, but being so close to the fall, it probably wouldn't be smart.

Uploading these pics, I couldn't figure out why I took the next picture.

Oh wait....

Mini-rainbow.

This shows what a lot of the trail is like. It's either slight incline of dirt, or a steeper incline of rock.

Now this picture shows what I would want to do next time. I already learned on the 4 Mile trail that I was wasting to much time taking photos. Had I had more free time, or wasn't going the whole way up Half Dome, I would have gotten off trail here, and gone climbing on some of the rocks. I'm sure it would be an amazing view of the fall from it's bottom. I definitely would have needed my rain poncho for that.

Here's a video showing the area. There's even a downed tree I could use to cross to the other side.

Looking back down to where the water runs.

I noticed a lot of Blue Jays out in Yosemite. I don't think we have any in Florida.

Getting a little closer to the fall.

This shows what a big portion of the trail is like at this point.

Here's a big section of switchbacks. If you look closely near the center of the photo you can make out someone farther up the trail from me.

Portions of the trail are very nicely made, and easy on the feet.

Time for another time stamp. The following picture was taken at 10:15am. Once done with the switchbacks for a bit we arrived at the merced river in the lower yosemite valley. This was a nice area for a break.

It was beautiful crystal clear water. I wanted to go for a swim, but the water was COLD, and I was plans and places to go.

Some cool pic of a giant dead tree.

Here I came to a junction, and of course went left.

More warning signs.

Next picture was taken at 11:53. I'm use to sleeping till noon, yet on this day I've already hiked over 6 miles.

I assumed I was doing well, as the rocks were clearing out, and now I was more in wooded areas.

Just showing how the trail looked at this point.

12:46, and I could now see Half Dome.

I wasn't even to the top yet, but the view was amazing.

Success! 1:11, and I made it to the Ranger's station. She was a hottie, but sort of a *****. She showed no emotion, only gave a yes or no answer, didn't smile, etc. I would guess ex military.
















So what do I do? I ask for a photo with her. She didn't seem to happy about this, as you can see from her huge smile.

I thought by this point it would be easy, and the cables would be just around the corner. NOPE! Here's a shot looking back at some switchbacks.

No railing up here, so be careful.

Maybe it's just me, but the song Stairway to Heaven popped into my head seeing these.

Finally I made it to the subdome. Yes, those are the famous cable of Half Dome right in front of me.

For the best feel of the area, and the cables, watch this following video in HD

2:47, and I was officially on top of Half Dome.

Oh yeah, there it is, the whole reason of this trip, to stand out on the diving board as it's called.

...and here I am doing just that.

Picture may be worth a thousand words, but I also got video of me standing on the diving board.

Ah, at the edge of a 4,000 foot fall.

Standing at another edge up on the top of Half Dome.

Up here on both the subdome, and Half Dome, and animals are super friendly, and will even open up backpacks that are left unattended. This squirrel got into someone's bag, and ripped open a ziplock bag of Goldfish crackers. I was curious if he would eat one from my hand.

Looking down into the valley floor.

Video looking down in to the valley floor.

Here's a video panning around, showing you the view from up here at 6,000+ feet.

...and a couple pics doing the same.

One last look at the diving board on Half Dome before heading down. I would have loved to have spent more time up on top of Half Dome exploring all it's surface area, eating a snack, taking a nap, etc, but I was on a time crunch. To top it off, I was already sick of the food I brought with me. There's nothing wrong with granola, crackers, nuts, fruit, and water, but I wanted a real meal. The water in my bladder now tasted like warm plastic. I don't know what was worse, the warm part, or the plastic taste.

You go down the same way you came up. The time was 3:30. That put me at 8 and a half hours to get to the top. Time for the descent. Hang on tight!

Back on the subdome, I chilled behind this rock for some shade while I had a snack.

A view looking around from the subdome.

I'm barely 10 minutes down from the subdome, when I hear some noises from the bushes over by some rock. I was just hoping it wasn't a bobcat or worse, a bear. Ok, just a deer.

Now if I learned one thing at Mariposa Grove, it was that going down is about ten times easier than going up. I tightened all the straps on my backpack, and was doing a slight jog. When going downhill, in my opinion, it's easier to run than try to slow yourself down. For that reason, I just focused on getting down. That's why I didn't take any pictures for close to the next 2 hours.

As I said in the beginning, I missed a turn in the Little Yosemite Valley, and took a slightly longer path. That was fine with me, because I had an idea. My water was warm and tasted like plastic. If I could make my way over to the water, I could float my bladder in the river, and chill it.

I was walking near the river, when I spot a big opening about 10 feet wide. I was down to the shore, and there's a downed tree right along the shore, perfect to tie my bladder's tube to. Even better, there's a large flat rock about a foot from the shore line. It stood about 3 feet out of the water, with a large flat top of about 5 feet by 5 feet. I took off my backpack, set it on the shore, and jumped up on this rock to lay down, and stretch my back.

It felt great! I figured I should let the bladder float for 10-15 minutes. So I'm sitting on this rock, facing my shore line, and decide to snap a couple pics of my resting area. This first pic is looking to my left, which would be the way I would be heading shortly.

This pic is to the right, which would be the area I just came from.

I lay back down, with my feet towards my short line. I was enjoying the sound of the running water, and birds chirping. After about 5 minutes, I hear some twigs start snapping directly behind me, thus across the river. I slowly sit up, fearing the worst, and I am correct. Directly across the river is a large bear. He was about to take a drink, but was now directly staring me down.

Now lets thing about this for a minute. I'm damn tired, and still a good 3-4 miles from civilization. That's bad. I have a large stream/small river separating us. That's good! My heart was beating a thousand beats a minute. I know you're suppose to make loud noises to scare the bear off, but I didn't. My immediate thinking was as long as he didn't get in the water I'm fine. He probable just wants a drink.

After being looked over by him, he took a drink, and then proceeded to walk down the shore line. At this point, I can now breath again. After he walks down the shore 20 or 30 feet I realize my point and shoot camera is in my pocket. Still scared, somehow taking pictures/video seemed like a good idea.

Here's the first pic, he's still walking away.

Here's a quick video I shot of him.

Here's a couple more pictures I took, now zoomed in a bit.

Once he was a little farther away, I started to feel safe. I jumped back to shore and grabbed my HD camcorder from my backpack. Here's a little clip of the bear walking back into the woods.

With the bear now gone, I needed to get going. Plus my heart is pumping, and I'm now 100% wide awake. The bear encounter was just after 6pm. I know the sunset is coming, so I hit the trail. Just as I start, two people walk up who were also heading down to the valley floor. They had been camping at Little Yosemite Valley. They said they planned to be at Curry Village around 10pm. As I've already said, I'm super hungry for a real meal, and I really want a drink that doesn't taste like plastic. They were walking. I knew I needed to start running.

This is most likely Nevada Falls from the John Muir trail. Like I said, I wasn't stopping for photos really. I was dead set on a sausage pizza, and either a Gatorade or Dr Pepper...maybe both. Those shops close at 10pm, so I had a deadline.

Somewhere half down the John Muir trail I came across this really tiny little stream of water that crossed the trail. It looked so delicious. It was damn cold, and I was sure it wouldn't taste like plastic. I knew better however. That didn't stop me from being stupid though. Despite Lt. Dan in Forest Gump's word of wisdom to Forest and Bubba, I took my shoes and socks off and soaked my feet. The water was so cold it was almost painful, but felt good at the same time. I shot this video of the water while sitting there soaking my feet.

The following picture was taken at 7:06. Sunset was 7:32.

That's it for pictures, but I'll finish the story. I knew I wouldn't make it by sunset, but I had a flashlight with me. I kept trying to make good time as I wanted that pizza. It gets dark quickly. I'm sure I still had a mile plus once it got dark. It was nearly pitch black when I got to the restroom near the valley floor. I'm speaking of the one with the large outdoor water fountain near the bridge. Words can't describe how awesome that semi-cold non-plastic tasting water was. I downed a good bit, wet my head, and was off.

At this point, I should be on a trail I recognize, right? Wrong. I did start at the trail head, but I was slightly off. While walking and BSing with the guy who left the parking lot at the same time I did, we missed a turned. We started up a trail that was meant for horses. I can say this because we walked past piled of crap the entire time before passing a women with 5 horses. A time or two we could see people on the other side of the stream. The lady with the horses told us the trail we were on would meet up with the other trail shortly.

So I was now going down a trail I've never been on, it's pitch black, and I know for a fact that there are bears in the area. I decided the best bet was to loudly talk to myself. I was very loudly saying stuff like, "It's time for sausage pizza!" "Off to Curry Village, here I come" and so on. FINALLY I get to a bus stop. I was almost about to cry I was so happy. Words fail to describe how beat, tired, hungry, and thirsty I was. Problem is I didn't take the bus. It shows up within 3-5 minutes, and I ask where is the parking lot. He says just down the road a bit. I asked for a ride, but he said it was the wrong way, which I already knew based on his pointing. I walked what felt like another half mile down a paved road before I hit a parking lot. I say "a" because I don't recognize it at all. I look around, and I didn't see the rental. I took out the keys, hit the unlock, and saw it's lights now flashing. I again literally almost cried with joy. As I turned the key over, the clock read 8:32.

For some rough math, that's roughly 8 hours to get to the top, and 5 coming back down.

Once at curry village I left everything in the rental and went straight for the general store. I knew I should grab a Gatorade, but I love Dr Pepper. I figured this would be the best tasting over ever. Man that was a stupid idea. I think it took me like 20 minutes to drink half of it while sitting outside the store on a bench.

My body was ready to give out. I was so sore/beat/tired that I literally felt like I had the flu. I then walked over and got a pizza which tasted AWESOME! I then went back to the store and bought a Gatorade. I took that with me, grabbed my sandals and headed for the shower. I had the hot water maxed, and sat there on a plastic bench meant to set your clothes on, while drinking my Gatorade. I think I sat there about 30-45 minutes. It felt great. I then grabbed my stuff from the rental, and went to bed.