HALF DOME HIKE 06-22-02

   I don't know whose idea it was to go on the hike, but I chose to go.  Everyone went a couple of years ago and I wasn't able to go because of work.  So this year I made sure that I went.  We met at Jag's house at 4am and drove to Yosemite.  We started the hike at around 6am. 

The initial 0.8 mile to get to the bottom of Vernal Falls was one of the toughest parts.  I breathed more heavily on that short part than the rest of the hike. There are two trails that lead to Half Dome  They split at the bottom of Vernal Falls and reunite above the falls.  We took the stairs, which is shorter than the Horse Trail and more strenuous.  We were told the stairs are really hard because they seem to last forever.  Shabi and I kept a slightly faster pace and we were ahead of the rest of the group.  We didn't take many breaks which increased our distance from the group.  The stairs weren't as difficult as the steps leading to the top of Vernal Falls. 

Shabi and I took a quick break at the top of the stairs and continued on towards Yosemite Valley.  Walking in the Valley wasn't a pleasant experience due to the sandy trail, which made it more difficult to walk.  We kept our pace and headed for the top.  After the Valley the terrain starts to ascend quickly.  Towards the middle my right leg started to cramp.  We took a break.  Shabi was like a soldier and was ready to march on.  She definitely kept me going. 

We hiked on until we were about 2 miles from the top.  There we took another break and ate some food.  This was the first time that I had actually eaten more than 1 piece of fruit.  We rested and I stretched my leg some more.  The hike after this was a lot tougher.  The slope increased a lot which made it tougher on my sore leg, but we kept on going.  "One foot in front of the other" was our motto.  We worked our way up to the rock stairs that lead the way to the area before the cables.  At first we didn't see the path and started climbing.  An experienced hiker pointed the way to the rock steps, which we didn't even notice.  We made it to the top, rested and ate for about 20 minutes. 

We didn't have any idea where the rest of the group was, just that they were really far behind us.  After we were rested we went on to tackle the cables.  I forgot to bring gloves, lucky for me there was a big pile of them at the bottom of the cables.  I picked up a nice pair of suede gardening gloves.  Shabi wore her workout gloves.  There weren't many people ascending the cables at this point so it went pretty fast.  The main thing that slowed us down was this girl who was ahead of Shabi.  She was starting to freak out and her friend had to push her up.  We made it to the top of Half Dome a little before 11:45am.  We ate, rested, and enjoyed the view for about half hour before we decided to go back down.  One our way down the cables we say the rest of the group climbing up.  While on top I thought they had all turned back, but they marched on. 

Descending is a lot faster and easier.  Everyone is pretty cooperative on the cables, each taking turns to ascend and descend.  About a quarter from the bottom I chose to go down on the outside of the cables, as I saw so many others do.  This was much faster and easier.  Shabi couldn't go as fast because she could feel the rope burn through her gloves.  We got down, gave each other a high five, and sat down on the rock.  We told everyone else that we would wait for them.  It took them a lot longer to go up and come down because there were many more people on the cables.  I took a nice nap.  The rest of the group came back down after resting on top for about 30 minutes and we all walked back down together.  It was a slow descent for me because my knees were in pain.  Shabi and I noticed a lot of things that we didn't notice on the way up, especially the river that runs through the Valley.  We took the Horse Trail on the way down.  Shabi and Shana ran the whole way down.  I went as slow as I could.  It took forever to get to the bottom, but I was glad when I did.  I'm not one to take medicine, but I took two ibuprofens on the way down and they didn't help.  This was a worthwhile trip but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't up for a little pain.  My right leg and shoulders were the most sore the following day. 

Some advice would be to keep the backpack light.  I carried 1 bunch of bananas, 4 apples, 6 small bottles of water, 1 1.5L bottle of water, 5 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, 3 bags of trail mix and dried fruits, windbreaker, change of socks, and a camera.  All I used by myself was 2 bananas, 2 apples, 5 small bottles of water and the one big one, 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and 1 bag of dried fruit.  The windbreaker is a necessity when going up the step to Vernal Falls due to the heavy mist.  

Here are some of the pictures from the trip.

Pic 1     Group picture at the bottom of Vernal Falls. From L-R: Preet, Shabi, Manjit, Jag, and Shana.

Pic 2     Shana and Shabi in front of Vernal Falls.  This is a little more than 1/2 way up the stairs.

Pic 3     Jagga and his wife in front of the falls.

Pic 4     Preet in front of the falls.

Pic 5     Group picture on top of Vernal Falls. From L-R: Bunny, Sati, Shana, Shabi, Jagga, Manjit, Preet

Pic 6     Shabi sitting on the rock with the cables in the background.

Pic 7     One view from the top of Half Dome, opposite side of the cables.

Pic 8     Another view from the top of Half Dome

Pic 9     Third view from the top of Half Dome showing the sheer face.

Pic 10     Shabi sitting on Half Dome

Pic 11     Preet on top of Half Dome

Pic 12     A waterfall viewable from the Horse Trail