Yosemite — Half Dome Hike
“Are you checking-in?”, the front-desk receptionist asked me.
“Are you checking-in?”, the front-desk receptionist asked me.
A perfectly reasonable question, given the local time (1:00 AM). To the contrary, I was checking out, headed to Yosemite National Park. It will be a 3 hour drive from where I was (Stockton, CA). This way, I could begin hiking the Half Dome trail by 4:45 AM.
I entered the park in darkness, and continued driving in darkness until I noticed something strange in the dark night sky. After pulling over, I figured out what it was: the moonlight faintly illuminating El Capitan, giving it a faint shimmer.
Hiking in darkness actually helped during the first 1–2 hours of the 15 mile hike, as it prevented me from realizing just how far I was going. Instead, all I could focus on was the next few feet in front of me.
By the time I got to Sub-Dome, it was around 10:00 AM. While Half-Dome is undoubtedly the star of the hike, Sub-Dome was no piece of cake. By the time I reached the Half-Dome cables, my legs were pretty much exhausted.
Luckily, only 1–2 people were on the cables by the time I got there. This was by far the most difficult part of the entire hike: one false step could send you tumbling down to the bottom of the valley. Several times, I propped myself on the cables to give my numb arms some rest.
But the views atop Half Dome were well worth the ordeal of the cables.
Coming down the cables was much easier and was just a matter of running down the dome, using cables for support. But I was only half-way done with the hike, 7.5 more miles to go.
Definitely one of my favorite hikes to date.
