Thursday, August 9, 2012

Hiking Half Dome

After hiking and camping for three days in Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park we needed a little R&R before heading to Yosemite NP so we splurged and stayed at the Motel 6 in Fresno. A very forgettable stay and city so I'll move right along. We arrived at Yosemite National Park on a Wednesday morning and the swarms of people made it feel like it was Labor Day weekend. We had our minds set on hiking the famous Half Dome; an enormous granite mountain rising 4800 feet from the Yosemite valley floor. The hike is so popular a permit system was introduced to reduce the amount of people using this part of the park. We were lucky to secure a last minute permit to both climb the mountain and camp in the backcountry. The first day we hiked in five miles and gained 2100 feet in elevation before setting up camp near a refreshingly cool river complete with the perfect swimming hole.


The next morning we woke up early and made it to the infamous cables 600 feet below the summit.


It's hard to describe the feelings as we looked up at the giant rock slab with cables that seemed to lead into the sky. With one cautious step after another we made our way to the top. The views of the valley floor almost a mile below were amazing but we couldn't bask in our glory too long, there were eight miles of hiking that we needed to complete to get back down to our car. Our full week in the National Parks was great but we were definitely ready to eat good food and take hot showers. Next stop, the city where cable cars reach the stars - San Francisco.

1 comment:

  1. Totally radical (early 90's lingo is on the rise)! Not many ppl on the rock either. I've seen some photos where the cable passage is crawling with lemmings. Do you guys always plan your outfits together in the a.m.?

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