Tochi's Hut

Half Dome.  The iconic image of Yosemite National Park.  A giant ball of granite at the Eastern end of Yosemite Valley.  My faithful readers are probably tired of seeing pictures of this rock, but you’ll have to bear with me for one more post. :)

In organizing this trip, I had sent out these two emails:

Wilderness Permit $5
Park Entrance Fee $20
Plane tickets $460
Opportunity to go climb some the most beautiful natural icons of the world with MMM and TH AND have it fit your school and vacation schedule.  PRICELESS!
MMM has promised to do something (TOTAL SHOCKER) at the top of Half Dome (weather permitting) and TH would do it too if MMM does it.  You can only find out what and participate if you are there! XD  (I'm gonna get killed by MMM).

Dates: One year to the weekend of McGregor : How Badly do you want it.
Duration: About as long as McGregor
Tickets: Cheaper flight tickets for everyone compared to Seattle. :P
Given our awesome luck, Aug 16th is full moon.  I need to redeem myself with better full moon shots, after the Carcassonne ones didn't turn out well at all. :(
So I hereby codename this McGregor Anniversary reunion camping expedition as ... Yosemite: Full moon at Half Dome.
See you all there!

These emails provoked some LOLIRL’s and cries of me being HORRIBLE.  Half Dome was to be the highlight of the trip.  We failed to summit McGregor last year (yes, I am still bitter), so failure at Half Dome is not acceptable.

We woke up at 3am to begin our 2.5 mile trek to Half Dome. Our goal was to catch the sunrise from the summit.  I suspect most people think we are crazy to get up at 3am, especially given the toils of the previous two days.  Fortunately enough, RC and I shared the same crazy ambitions.

Well, I got up at 3am and I was in a rush - I forgot to go the previous night.  This totally brought back memories from a year ago.  Good thing there is a fully stocked, super advanced, two story, solar-powered, fan-induced, bacterial composting facility at the campgrounds.  We quickly tossed whatever we needed into our packs and hit the trails at 3:45am, 15 minutes behind schedule.

Finding the trail proved a bit difficult in the dark, as we never got a good feel for the layout of the campgrounds.  We did not interpret the hand drawn map provided to us by the Wilderness Center properly, so we fumbled our way around until we found the proper trailhead.  We also realized at that time that we didn’t pack any food!  RC decided we can forego the food and I had agreed since we were running late.

Well, the climb from Little Yosemite to Half Dome was all uphill.  I became tired very early on in the hike.   My headlamp didn’t seem to illuminate the path very well (I had charged my batteries before the trip too). My left eye kept itching against the dry air for some reason, so that bothered me (has never happened to me before). 

Our friendly neighbour had told us about a water source just past the John Muir trail fork.  RC was going through his water pretty quickly, so he was dancing behind every fall tree trunk in search of this spring.  We finally struck water at 4:58am.  :) 

I’ve heard about walking under moonlight and how bright the moon really was.  This hike is the only time in recent memory that I’ve been in wilderness under a full moon.  So I found it pretty cool that I could see the trail quite well with just the moonlight (no headlamp), at least in the spots with little tree cover. 

There wasn’t really much to the hike in the dark.  RC and I didn’t chat too much, it was just heads down, step after step.  We did run into yet another deer on the trail.  He was probably as curious as we were on why the other was on the trail at this early hour.  We also realized that the annoying bear bell that RC has been wearing doesn’t work on deers. :)

It was a great relief when we broke through the tree line to see the last section of Half Dome in its entirety.  I was thinking, omg, we are so close! That was until I noticed a few little beacons of light further up the face of Half Dome and realized  we still had a ways to go.  We weren’t the only crazy ones trying to Half Dome (HD is now a verb) before sunrise!  It was 5:45am by then, so time was tight.  30 minutes before sunrise – we had to race.  However, before all that, I had to stop to grab a Full Moon at Half Dome photo. 

There were better positions to frame a similar photo earlier on and later in the trail, but I was not given the luxury to stop and take photos. Even as I got my gear out to grab this shot, someone was impatiently telling me... "You better hurry up!" Well, this ended up being the ONLY shot of our natural satellite I got on the entire trip - I'm glad I took it. so THERE.

Hi ho hi ho, off to Half Dome we go.  We finally got up to the stone section!  I look up the face, I cannot see the top of Half Dome anymore.  wtf.  The trail had turned into a series of stone steps.  Ugh.  I started going up, and after a few steps, I was huffing and puffing.   I couldn’t help but stop.

RC seemed to be doing better than me, as he was pretty much two switchbacks worth of steps ahead.  I was trying to focus on just tackling the steps.  Starting counting the steps I took.  Take at least 10 steps before coming to a rest.  Man, I was struggling to make even 5 in a row.  Had to rest after 8.   My legs just were too tired.  Whenever I stopped to rest and look up, I’d realize  these steps don’t seem to end!!

The photo on the right shows the steps (taken on our way down).  Some of those steps are a foot high and when you are dragging your legs already, they are totally not fun.   The steps you see is maybe 1-2% of the overall stairwell.

Well, after I got past the steps, I had to rest.  Screw the sunrise at the top of Half Dome.  I’d settle for watching it from this little Half Dome before the cables section.  A group of campers had settled at the top of this little Half Dome (essentially, a small camel hump leading up to the final climb to the top of big Half Dome).  They had everything including their sleeping bags, beer, bangos and guitar.  Quite the hippy crowd. 

They were certainly a source of entertainment.  One of them even lit this flame ball on a chain thing and remarked, “We are a photographer’s dream!  Entertainment at the top of Half Dome.“ I couldn’t agree more.

We rested a bit and caught the sunrise before deciding to tackle Half Dome.  The cables were a LOT scarier in real life than in the photos.  As you can see, there are two chains anchored into the side of Half Dome and you essentially use them to pull yourself up the steep incline to reach the top.  I’d estimate the steepest part probably had a 70 degree gradient.  No photo can give justice to how steep these cables were.  It is one of those moments you just have to experience – feeling the wind blow across you, seeing the cables sag, hearing the chains rattle against the poles, and knowing that it’s your turn to go up.

RC mentioned he wasn’t sure if he wanted to do this.  Come on!  We didn’t hike all this way to go home now!!  The little voice in my head was saying, what the heck are you doing, do you want to die here?!? 

Went to take our pick from the pile of gloves at the bottom of the cables.  Wow, there was quite a selection.  Also, did I mention that because of my baby Gitzo, I had to carry my backpack with me (minus all the stuff we could leave at camp).  I would need both hands to stay alive today.  Let’s just say having to carry extra weight on my back didn’t instill too much confidence before this cables section.

Up we went though.  Quick scrambles of a few steps to the next wooden plank.  Repeat.  These cables were a lot worse than I expected.  Not only were the chains not taut, the poles holding the chain weren’t drilled solidly into the rock – they actually moved.  Those wooden planks were not secured very well either and in the steepest sections, some of the planks were missing!!!!

We slowly made our way up the cables.  We basically had to stop at each plank to catch our breath.  Good thing we were the only ones on the cables.  I won’t know what to do if others were waiting behind me, forcing me to move on.  RC kept saying this is the craziest thing he’s ever done.  It definitely ranks up there for me too!!  The climb was as nerve racking as it was exhilarating.   I have never done anything quite like this.

That is RC climbing the cables ahead of me.  Yes, TochiCam was hanging precariously around my neck the entire time.  Probably not the smartest choice, but we both survived. :)

Anyway, after 40 minutes (probably a lot slower than average summiteers, but no sane person would have carried a pack like we did), we finally made it to the TOP!  Wow, I had no idea how we did it.  But here we were, at the top of Yosemite.   That was truly “a knee-knocking, hand-clamming cable ascent that will test your courage, your strength, and the tread on your shoes.”  HAHA.   And what do you know, there were a LOT of squirrels up here.  How the heck did they make it up?!?

We lounged around a bit, took photos at a ledge.  RC laid down on a rock and actually passed out for 15 minutes. lol.

Well, I don't really have to say it but the view is just absolute spectacular.  No matter which direction you look, there’s an unbelievable, bigger-than-life vista.  With the exception of a couple small shrubs, the entire terrain was solid rock. It really felt like we were in a different world/planet.

Here’s a shot of RC and me with Glacier Point and the valley behind us.  It’s a little surreal to think we were just at Glacier Point less than 24 hours ago.  Wow!  We’ve come a long way. You’ll also see the official mascot for GCYoMoDo.  This is no consolation prize like Signal was to McGregor, but the uber reward for our crowning achievement of Half Doming!!!  It acts as a decent ballhead protector too!

We took a bunch more photos including the official Full Moons at Half Dome shot.  It took two tries to get right.  Timing was everything.  Took the necessary photos for the virtual.  RC built a very cute looking Inukshuk while I was surveying the land for a lost benchmark. We shouldn't be building these unnatural piles of rocks in National Parks... least of all at the top of Half Dome. :P

Well, we had our hour of being the lone ones at the top of Half Dome (How cool is that!!).  However, around 10am, a stream of people from the valley floor was making their way to the summit. It was time for our descent, especially before it got too crowded on the cables.  Traffic had to flow both ways on the same set of cables!

So here lies the biggest question of the day.  How do we go down?  Face forward or backwards?  Forward was faster, but you had to get over the nerves.  It is a 70 degree gradient.  Backwards was probably safer, but it’ll take forever to get down.  RC and I decided to get this over with and confronted our fears face forward. 

The climb down turned out to be not that bad.  You slip and slide a bit, especially with your momentum propelling you forward, but with a good grip on the cables, you can almost run down the hillside.  Passing around people was a little tougher, cause you had to let go of one cable and trust the other one for dear life.  RC rocketed down the cables, while I went at a more leisurely pace. lol.   I had one cable tucked closer into my armpit, just in case!  Thanks to RC though for racing down so quickly and grabbing some photos of me descending!  Oh, I forgot to mention, the view coming down was most spectacular.  If only I could get my camera out!  Heading down was a heck lot easier than going up.

Got down to the bottom of the cables and rested for a bit.  It finally sank in.  We conquered Half Dome!!!  The sense of accomplishment was overwhelming.  Before the journey, this wasn’t on my list of things to do in my lifetime.  Now that I’ve done it, it totally belongs on there!

Half Dome is the ultimate Yosemite hike - the one you can't die without doing, and the one you're most likely to die while doing.

This quote hit the nail right on!  Wow.  Wow. Wow.  GCYoMoDo – Level Completed.  Mission Success!  Now we just have to make it out of Yosemite alive.

Started heading down those stone steps.  I felt really sorry for the people huffing and puffing their way up.  Now that I can see the steps clearly, man, how the heck did I make it up all these steps?  There were a lot more than I remembered.  Geez.  You only ever hear people talking about the cables, but these steps were the killer for me.  As one guy said, “If I ever see a 12 inch granite step again I am going fall into a fetal position and whimper uncontrollably.”

We had to hike back to our campgrounds.  Unfortunately, I’ll always remember this moment as one of the hardest ordeals of my life.  I had been battling the onset of a cold, we ate next to nothing in the past 24 hours and I was literally sapped of energy.  My body must have bonked.  It was so frustrating for me.  The hike was a nice easy downhill one and while I was mentally awake, my body just could not move at any decent pace.  In retrospect, I’ve always had a sort of self confidence in being able to perform against challenges that I expect to be within my limits.  This experience was definitely a rude awakening, which was probably why I felt it was such a personal letdown.  I was mentally focused, but my body just would not give.  It wasn’t as if my muscles were overly sore, but that they just had no energy.  zippo.  I don’t know how to describe it. 

Well, halfway down the trail, RC, who is in the best shape of his life, decided to leave me and head down to camp first.  He claimed he would start cooking.  By the time I got down to the camp grounds, I was expecting to find food ready.  What I found was a pot full of water, and it was not even on the stove.  RC was nowhere to be seen.  WTF.  Where’s the food?!??!  Me is hungry.

We took the rest of the day off to lounge around the campgrounds.  It was great to finally have some time to rest and relax.  I took a nap under a tree by the beach, while RC waddled through water with a snake and a bunch of boy scouts.  Wrapped up early and headed to bed at a decent time, for once.

Oh, did I mention we Half Domed today?!?!   :DDDD