I woke up with a start to the dreadful sound of my alarm clock thinking "it can't possibly be 5 am already". We arrived at Toulumne Meadows close to midnight the night before - exhausted and tired from the drive up. Unfortunately, for most of us, a restful sleep never camel; it often takes a while to adjust to the air and surroundings the first night. It also didn't help that the campsite next to us didn't get in til around 2 am. Before we knew it, it was time to get up and we a 2 hour drive down to Yosemite Valley to start our adventurous hike. The sky was still dark as we stumbled around getting ready. By the time it was 5:30, we could see the sun peak from the mountains and the sky began to lighten. We left the campsite at 6:00 am and got our first view of Yosemite's majestic mountains. The view was magnificent.
We started at the trailhead at Happy Isles by 8:00 am. The air was relatively cool, but when the sun came out it was certain that the cool weather wasn't going to stick around...
We could see Half Dome within the first mile of our hike. We took the John Muir trail (the "easy" longer route). Within the first 3 miles, we found ourselves fighting gravity and taking in as much air as possible as we trekked uphill.
We got a great view of Vernal Falls on the way up. Luckily there trail was shaded, and the trail ended up flattening out as we reached Little Yosemite campground. We trudged along the dusty, sandy trails and continued to climb upward. I wish I had a giant leaf blower to blast all the sand away from the trails. It was a grueling hike on the way up, but the sand turned out to be nice cushion for our knees on our way back down.
At mile 6 we approached an area where we could see Half Dome and the tiny ant trail of people climbing the cables (you can see Half Dome in the background). The air was getting thin and it was getting hard to breathe. The trail was also getting significantly steeper. We had been hiking for 3 hours. We were almost there! Only 2 miles to go...
We encountered the last bit of the hike: the awful rock climb. It took about every ounce of energy to climb each step... and the it felt like we'd never reach the top. I stopped to rest midway and took a picture of the top...We were only about half a mile away from the base of the cables. Others around me were huffing, puffing, and swearing at each step of the way.
Here's a view looking down from the climb.
As we approached the the base, we could see what waited ahead of us - a 400 ft climb to the top.
Pile of gloves left by previous climbers.
Up we go!I've read from previous hikers to avoid the cable lines, but in my case, I was thankful that there were people there with me. Had it not been for the encouragement from guy in front of me and Jenn behind me, I probably would of turned around and gone back down. Half way through I made the mistake of looking up and the distance loomed before me. A wave of fear went through me as my mind was saying "No way, you're arms can't possibly have enough strength to pull you through this." I don't know if it was some type of survivor instinct that kicked in, but I shook the thoughts away and blindly scrambled up the cables as quickly as I could before my mind could convince me to do otherwise.
It took about 45 minutes to get up to the top, but the view was well worth it.
Here's a shot of the crazies sitting on the edge. After about 20 minutes of taking in the view and resting, we decided to head back down. The descent was much easier. It helped that a little redhead tweener was in front of me, yakking nonstop - which made me temporarily forget about tumbling to my death. I also noticed that she had Chuck Taylors on... which made me think, okay, if this girl can do this wearing a pair of Converse, I might have a shot getting down with my trusty hiking boots. Using my weight, I simply slid down the cables with my gloves and was down at the base within 15 minutes. I nearly kissed the ground.
As we were resting, we heard a rustling sound nearby. Someone had left their backpack under the rocks and a lucky squirrel was having a field day. It was in there for a good 45 minutes before the owner returned and found the bottom of her pack full of holes and the remains of trail mix spilling out. Those Yosemite squirrels are crazy!
The 7 mile descent was much easier than climbing up, but it still had its challenges. We were running low on water. We started the hike with close to 8 liters and we were down to 1 liter by the time we started our descent. The descent was also extremely hard on the knees. We decided to take the steep Mist Trail back, and in retrospect, I'm thankful we didn't decide to take that trail on the way up! We reached the car around 8:30 pm and looked forward to the meal waiting for us at the campsite. The car ride back seemed like eternity. We finally reached the campsite at 10:30, starving, fatigued, and exhausted. After a quick meal, we changed into warm clothes, climbed into our sleeping bags for a well deserved good nights sleep.
In the end, I'm thankful for the experience. I can't promise this will be something I will venture again. Despite the psychical hardship, I was able to witness some of God's incredible creation and will be something I will never forget.
