Hiking Half Dome

It has always been my dads dream to hike Half Dome.  14 years ago he came very close to the top.  He got all the way to the cables and then with the weather and the timing he was not able to go that final stretch.  Now days you have to get a permit to hike half dome so dad applied for that back in April and won the lottery to hike Half Dome on his 60th birthday weekend.  He invited all of us kids to join him on his dream.  My dad loves the outdoors and loves to hike.  I remember being a kid and going on our weekly hikes in the Hayward hills. We would also camp a lot and hike the trails around where ever we were.  I have some hiking experience and with my running 3-4 times weekly I thought I had Half Dome in the bag...... Oh no!! this hike is HARD!! You are constantly walking up hill.  I had know idea how much trail you had to cover before you even get to the base of the dome.

 We woke up at camp at 4am and packed up then drove into Yosemite and started on the treck at 6am.

 We actually did the John Muir Trail.  I could not find a sign on the Internet and I forgot to take a picture of the sign.  I must have been to busy taking selfies lol.  But you get an idea we started at the Valley floor and to get to the top Half Dome around 8.2 and then another 8.2 down. 

 That first mile of the hike to Vernal Falls was very steep.  I remember someone saying the very first part and the very last part are the hardest.  It was pretty rough and it was hard to imagine doing this all day.

We made it to Vernal Falls.  It was a nice little break area to enjoy a snack and take advantage of the last flushing toilet we would see for the day.  At this point Scott decided he was done and went back to the Valley.

Then the 4 of us were off to Nevada Fall's (half way point to Half Dome) via the John Muir trail.  Most people take the Mist trail.  The mist trail is actually a shorter trial I think takes off like 2 miles but there are a lot of steps and they can be wet and dangerous.  My dad did that trail last time and said it was kind of hard and wore him out at the beginning of his trip so we should do the John Muir trail which is longer but it has switch backs and not as slippery.  The views were amazing and the wild squirrels were fun.  The flies in our faces were the most annoying part. 

 We finally made it to place we could see Nevada Falls in the distance.  We stopped there to enjoy a snack.  The squirrels were a little to friendly I almost had one on my lap.

 We made it Nevada Falls!! We were feeling pretty good about our progress at this time.  I think it was only around 9am and we were already half way up.

 We walked and walked and were all feeling pretty good.  We did another stop around 11:30am.  Laura decided at this time that she was done.  We asked other hikers coming down the mountain how much longer and they would say around 2 hours.  We new we were cutting it close to having to hike in the dark back if we continued but we felt like we had already completed so much we needed to just do it.   I had a hard personal struggle at this point.  I really wanted to hike with my dad but I knew if we continued at his pace we would be really late.  Part of me knew the best decision would be for us all to turn around but I could see the determination in my dads face and I didn't want to take that from him.  Spencer and I got our permites and decided that in order for us to finish this thing we had to really pick up the pace.  We told my dad to go as far as he thought and then turn around when he had enough.As I write this it brings tears to my eyes thinking amount that moment in our hike.  I wish we had more hours in the day.  I didn't want to leave my dad but I knew I had to to make it up in time. Spencer and I went for it and keeping up with Spencer going up a hill is very hard work.  I remember comparing child birth at this moment and thinking I would pick that over this.  Walking up this mountain take a large amount of endurance, faith and hope.  I also had the worrying of my dad walking behind us.  Is he okay?  Has he turned around?  I hope he doesn't do this stretch of trail because it is so hard.

My shoes had decided to fall apart right before the hike.  Thank goodness the ranger had tape we could use.

 Then the walking on the trail was done and we came to the horrible rock steps at the base of the dome.  I knew about the cables I had prepared myself for the cables but I did not know about climbing steps made out of granite on a side of the mountain with no rails to hold! At first I thought okay here we go.....

 I just considerate one one step at a time.....

 Then I stopped to take a breath and looked around me and almost puked!! Like really really sick.  A huge fear of heights came over me and I then almost passed out.  It didn't help that a guy decided he didn't want to use the steps and slid down the side of the mountain and then did a flip and almost went off the side.  Yes I just witnessed someone almost dieing!! At that point my emotions got the best of me and I couldn't imagine risking everything just to climb to the top.

My wonderful husband helped me through my major panic attach and calmed me down the best he could at the top of this very high mountain.  As you can see I have tears in my eyes in this picture.

We sat on the step right there and talked about what we should do I was done physically and emotionally and so we decided that we did conquer Half Dome.  We didn't make it to the very top we didn't make it to the cables.  We made 2/3rds of the way up the sub dome and that was just enough for me.  Maybe we will try it again but on this day it was enough.  It was time to climb down.  My fear of heights were really getting to me so I actually butt crawled down the steps.  I had lots of stares but it made me feel closer to the grown and safer.  At the bottom of the steps we re-taped my shoe and then were off.  I was hoping that my dad was safe and that we would find him and get to finish the hike with him.  Spencer and I were both shocked to be coming around a turn right after the steps to find my dad standing there! He had done it! He hiked over 8 miles up hill.  His determination and perseverance to hike this trail was unbelievable.  His strength to keep going to complete his goal was out of this world.  Though his body was 60 years old and has some physical weaknesses you could never see that because his love for hiking and his determination was so much stronger. I had tears in my eyes again on the trail as I walked down the mountain with my dad.  He really is such an amazing strong man! We walked as fast as we could but time was not on our side.  It came apparent at around Nevada falls that there was no way around it we were going to be hiking in the dark.  At that point we also ran into the man that I saw fall of the mountain.  He kind of looked homeless (but then again we all did from hiking all day) he also seemed drunk and kind of scary.  Come to find out he had another drunk shady looking friend with him.  At this point these where the only other hikers with us on the trail and both Spencer and I were getting an uneasy feeling about it.  At this point I had no idea what to think the night was going to bring.  We also found out at this point that dad had forgotten our flash lights.  Now it was getting really scary!! We ended up running into a group of 3 college aged guys that were the sweetest guys ever and gave us a flash light and head lamp.  Things were looking a little brighter at that point.  We called the kids at Nevada Falls and said good night.  It was a hard phone call because I really did not know if we would make it down the very dark trail.  I was scared of wild life, the homeless guys and my dads strength failing.  We pushed on down.  It felt like the night was never going to end.  About 2-3 miles from the bottom Spencer and I decided we need to go faster and this wsa only possible if we held my dads arms around our shoulders.  Spencer was amazing and encouraging to us.  He defiantly wins the son in law award.  Thankfully we ran into another group of hikers that were also going slow because one of them had to make a duct tape shoe since her boot was causing her bad blisters.  It felt so nice being with another group and the miles didn't seem so long.  Colton their guide leader and Spencer helped my dad and we finally made it down the mountain at 10:30pm.  It was the longest day ever.  6am-10:30 pm of walking really puts a toll on your body.  We made it home that night at 1:30am and I have never loved my shower and bed more.  This was definitely an adventure.  I think we took a little to much on but in the end I'm proud of us.  I'm happy that dad got us to do this.  I feel like we grew stronger as a family.