2/28/2024 0 Comments Hatchful logo maker appI looked her in the eyes and told her how I managed my nerves as I took the gloves off my hands and put them on hers. I was sitting on a log landing to stay out of the way and ended up face to face with her. Toward the bottom, I came across a woman without gloves who was so scared. The cables were busy on our descent and it was challenging to coordinate two-way traffic. After enjoying the summit, we had to set off for the long hike down. We haven’t done that hike yet so we can’t comment. Some people say they prefer the view from Clouds Rest because it includes Half Dome. Learn your lesson-eat some salt before you head up and plan to stretch out those muscles.Įven on the very smoky day we had excellent views. My quads cramped on the way down the cables. Later we saw another guy cramping as he was coming up. Kelly’s quads cramped as we reached the summit and so did the other guy who was in our little group. Eventually, the slope started to level just a touch and then we were at the top. I was in the lead of the group and would call out whether it was an easy or hard section. Digging into the strength in my legs and core made the task manageable. At first I was relying too much on my arms, as if I forgot that my legs were still useful. I was nervous and the camaraderie helped take the edge off. It really is something pretty wild to climb up that slope. We started the climb just as two other pairs of hikers did and together we formed a cheer squad for each other. The most dangerous thing on the cables is a person who doesn’t belong there. If the climb feels too strenuous or scary, just don’t do it. It’s a lovely view at the base of Sub Dome and you owe nothing to yourself or anyone else. And seriously, if you are not feeling it, do not go. We skipped this step but would have been better off with a short rest. Take a few minutes to catch your breath before you head up the cables. Indeed, the granite is slick enough that at this angle, we can confirm that you do not want to risk it. Climbing Half Dome without the cables is strongly discouraged. Heads up that these are not up for hikers year round-rangers set them up in early summer and take them down in mid-October. Here, you’ll tackle a short and strenuous 500 foot climb up Sub Dome and then to the base of the cables. It’s a steady climb of 900 feet up 1.5 miles to the base of Sub Dome. The hiking from the intersection of the Half Dome Trail with the John Muir Trail gets challenging. You’ll also pass the Little Yosemite camping area (many people backpack to this campsite and then summit Half Dome after backpacking in, reducing the length of the day by many miles). There’s also a pretty flat section of trail from Nevada Falls until the turnoff for Half Dome. The brink of Nevada Falls is a great place to rest for a bit. Although it added about 1.5 miles to our round trip hike, it meant we gained the same elevation as the Mist Trail spread out over 2.3 instead of 1.6 miles. Truthfully, this might be advisable on other days. The Mist Trail wasn’t open the morning we hiked so we went up the John Muir Trail. After Vernal Falls, you start climbing even more steeply up to Nevada Falls. You’ll gain some elevation here but not much. Then you start on the paved trail up to Vernal Falls. The first stretch of hiking is easy as it’s just getting to the trailhead. I cannot imagine how miserable it would be to be summiting late on a hot day. We hiked Half Dome in the fall on a perfect weather day (aside from forest fire smoke throughout the area). So you really do need to plan for an early start as you should expect a long day. The hike is long and it’s slow going up and down steep sections of the trail. We set out around 4 am from our lodging to get to the trail head and were hiking by headlamp by 5:50.
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