Half Dome
The Queen and I hiked to Half Dome a few weekends ago. It was a long, hard hike, but it was worth it.
The part of the hike up past Nevada Fall was tough, but beautiful. Even though it was late in the season, there was still water coming down the falls. We only saw a handful of people on this part of the hike because we left at five in the morning. There were no people at Vernal Fall, so we stopped to enjoy it for a minute or two.
Hiking on we passed Emerald Pool and Silver Apron and both were amazing. I didn't research why the rock in this area is silver, but it was cool. The hike up to the top of Nevada Fall was tough, but The Queen picked a great pace. We stopped often, but continued to make good time. After Nevada Fall we started to see more people, but there were still not very many people on the trail. At the point where the John Muir Trail joined our trail, the hike changed. The trail was then covered in sand.
At this point the hike was not as pretty and was not that difficult. It was just long. After passing the backpackers camp we came back to the Merced River again. The hike got more difficult and we made it back to some good scenery again.
Just before Sub Dome, we finally laid eyes on Half Dome and it looked intimidating. We stopped and took some photos before heading to Sub Dome. We could see people climbing the cables and even a hiker out on the diving board.
We made it to Sub Dome before a ranger was there. We got one last drink of water and headed up. It was steep with stairs leading up switchbacks. The Queen started to have a panic attack and finally stopped about a quarter of the way up. I slowly took her back down. While back at the base of Sub Dome the ranger finally made it and started checking permits. I hiked back down a ways to see if anyone needed our extra permits. I saw a few deer near the trail before heading back to Sub Dome.
Back on Sub Dome the stairs stop about half way up. At that point you just have to climb up the rock and make your own trail. I could see the cables, so I had a general idea of which way to go. I got near the base of the cables before eleven o'clock and took off my backpack to take some photos. I think at this point I knew I was not going any further. I just kept thinking about the show "I Shouldn't Be Alive". I wondered how The Queen would know if something bad happened to me. I thought about my sore finger joints and how that would hurt my efforts to climb the cables. I saw people struggling up and slipping down the cables. I put my backpack back on and headed back down Sub Dome defeated.
The hike back down to camp was easier, but it felt longer. There were several points where we could see Half Dome that we didn't see on the way up. We stopped at the Merced River so I could refill a water bottle. I sterilized the water and it tasted good and cool. Later in the hike it tasted a little fishy.
When we got close to Vernal Fall we ran into the crowds. It took us a long time to get back down to the bridge. By the time we got back to the road, we were exhausted.
We got back to camp before four and cracked open a few beers before taking showers. We had an early dinner at the Curry Village buffet and were asleep before eight.
It was a great experience and looking back at the photos I realized the cables were not as steep as they looked. I already told The Queen that I am going to do the hike again and make it all the way up the cables.
