The hike is a 14-16 mile round trip, normally, depending on which trails you take. Jeff and I hiked up the Mist Trail and down the John Muir Trail, so, including our 1 mile each way trip between the car and trailhead, our trip was probably around 18 miles.
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| Vernal Fall |
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| Vernal Fall |
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| Nevada Falls |
Up the trail to the left we go and begin the rest of our uphill-for-four-more-miles hike, on thin air. Huffing and puffing through the trees we clip along, like we're in a race because we always do everything fast and competitively. We soon realize we will give ourselves heart attacks if we don't pace ourselves a little slower breathing the 8,000 foot air up the steep climb of trail and steps of rocks of all different shapes and sizes.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of up, we reach the bottom of the Sub Dome. We wonder at more amazing views and scout out the rest of our climb. We could barely see a few little specks of people on Half Dome working their way slowly up the cables and could see a handful others working their way back and forth up and down the switchbacks on the Sub Dome. We catch our breath and begin making our way up the Sub Dome. "Oh, this is easy enough . . ." I thought, initially. But, as we starting gaining more elevation pretty quickly, and the trees were getting smaller and smaller below us, with no cable on the outside of me, with nothing but steeply sloping granite and gravel, and a panoramic view of the entire valley below, I became dizzy and my fear of heights started to play with my head.
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| Sub Dome and Half Dome behind. |
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| A little pale and scared before the ascent! |
With only 400 feet up a 40-50 degree slope left to go, which looks like 1,000 feet at a 75 degree angle when you're standing at the bottom watching very small people make it up the final slope of the dome at the top of the cables, this required mustering every ounce of courage I had. I was plain scared and my eyes were probably huge under my sunglasses! This is the the second most daunting view of the hike (guess what the first is?!). Jeff didn't seem bothered at all!
We had our short break, ate some Shot Blocks, and Jeff asked, "Are you ready?" and smiled . . .
"Nooooo!" I screamed in my head, but I told Jeff, "Yeah . . . "
We put our gloves on and walked up to the cables, looked up and grabbed on, one hand on each cable. The slope was gentle for a few feet of the cables and then began up. Grab with both arms, take a step on the not-so-traction-provident granite slope and take a little step up. Grab, pull, step. Grab, pull, step. Grab, pull, step. There are boards about every 8-15 feet so the cables are like a long ladder. I didn't feel comfortable putting all my weight on my feet because my shoes would slip a little when I would push off, so much of my propulsion up was from the use of my arms and pulling myself up. The air kept feeling thinner, we kept getting higher, and we were to the 50 degree point about halfway up the dome. My arms were falling asleep from being above my head most of the time and my heart was pounding. I'm not sure if it was fear, being tired and/or hungry, thin air and hard physical work, a little stomach problem or all of the above, but I became dizzy and nauseated for about 2 minutes and I thought I might have to turn around. Thankfully, it passed quickly and talking to Jeff helped, so we continued up.
Jeff handled the ascent very well, of course. He wasn't as afraid as I was, and although I won't speak for him, I will say, I could tell he was concentrating. : )
Twenty-five or so minutes after we started up, we finally made it up the 9 miles, 4,700 feet and the final 400 feet and 90 degree, I'mean, 40-50 degree slope of dome and were up top! What a view, what a relief, and how exhausting, mentally and physically. We congratulated one another, I laid immediately down, Jeff walked around, we took pictures, and we listened to others congratulate one another for making it to the top and marvel at the wonder around them. Wow . . . we couldn't believe the view, were happy we made it, and were very tired.
After about an hour on top, we decided to work our way down to have lunch below the Sub-Dome (we wanted all of the danger of that out of our way). So, we walk back up to the cables, look below at the little dots of people below us and try to see over the hump that slopes so quickly you can't see all the way down (this would be the most daunting view of the hike!), turn around to face the dome to slide down, holding on for dear life. Thankfully, going down was not nearly as frightening nor physically challenging as up. I held onto the right cable, my cap shielded the view of the rest of the valley from my eyes so I would not see what I could tumble down to in an instant, and I took baby steps as Jeff waited patiently for me to catch up with his sliding down the slope. We passed several going up this time (we didn't meet any on the way up), encouraged them to hang in there and that it "gets better and down is much easier." One woman, just as she passed us, began crying, saying wanted to turn around to her husband (it really is scary!), as their little 10 year-old boy followed her. And then one Persian man passed us as he would run up a few steps (this was still the 40 degree slope).
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| Hanging on for dear life! |
We made it down both domes, not slipping (praise God!), not tumbling 1,000 ft to our deaths, as a few have, and happy it was behind us. Lunch, then our 4 mile hike back down, down, down, to the pool just above Nevada Falls to recharge, take some ibuprofen, and rest our feet and knees. Jeff pumped some water for some college boys who didn't take their gallon of water per person up with them, chatted with them, crossed the river over the bridge, and headed down the John Muir Trail back to the Valley Floor.
Eighteen miles. 4,700 feet up and back down again. Eleven hours. Four hours in the car back home (probably not the way to do the ride home). : )
If you are in Yosemite, and want the challenge of a lifetime, Half Dome is it. It is the hardest hike of the Valley and probably the hardest hike I will ever do. If you do decide you would like to do it, train for it and get prepared. It is not easy and at times, dangerous even for those in excellent shape and even if you aren't afraid of heights. You have to want to do it and you must be in shape for it. Many have had heart attacks climbing the cables and healthy folks have made fatal mistakes on the hike and in the valley. Be prepared!
So, every experience should have a lesson learned, right? I would say probably the obvious: overcoming fear and the rewards thereof. It was an amazing experience and, although not always "fun," it was mostly fun and worth it. We hurt, could barely move after for about half a day, but we got to see things otherwise unseen by us, challenge ourselves and test our limits. We got to do something big together and work as a team. There is also a camaraderie between those who have shared the same experience that is fun to relate with others you may have nothing else in common with. I have also never done something that was viewed as "dangerous" (other than driving the highway to work every day). Kinda fun, but won't be something I do often.
Here are more pics of the adventure:
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| We didn't take any without me in it, here, but this shows the sheer rock face on the dome. |
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| "The Saddle" between Half Dome (left) and the Sub Dome (right). If you look closely, you can see hikers hiking the cables. |
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| These are the climbers we met at Nevada Falls. They climbed the SW side of the Dome while we did the cables. |
More pics of the trip here. Click on the first photo to view a larger version and then click "next." : )
This is a San Francisco Chronicle article called "Danger on the Dome," if you're interested in reading more about it:
