The Half Dome Hike

This weekend a few of us went down to Yosemite with the intent of climbing to the top of Half Dome. The main impetus for the trip was the celebration of our friends’ Brian and Allison's wedding anniversary (they were married on top of Half Dome 5 years ago by yours truly who became “vicar for the day” in the Universal Life Church – now lapsed, very lapsed). Of course, most of us also had a secondary reason for the trip, namely, to see if any of us, after 5 years, were still capable of making the ascent.

After a shaky start (getting 7 or 8 people to the trail head at the same time is a little like herding cats), we were on the way in near perfect conditions - a little hot, and a bit smokey from the forest fires, but good enough. This year being a dry year, the so-called Mist Trail up the side of Vernal Falls was as dry as a bone so the going was good.

The Half Dome ascent is an epic though grueling hike – some 17 miles round trip from the valley floor, with nearly 5,000 ft of vertical gain. It is topped off with a very exposed and very intimidating scramble up the last 500 or 600 ft aided by wire cables strung over the back side of the dome.


The hike is extremely popular and the Park Warden estimated that in excess of 500 people made it to the top on the same day as we did. The climb up the cables over the last section to the summit is not for the faint of heart with near vertical drops to the valley on either side (two people have died there this year – somehow slipping off the cables to the valley below). Because the last section on the cables is pretty much a single file exercise everyone is slowed to the pace of the slowest person and given the wide range of skills up there this can be quite slow and tedious (it took us almost 1 hour to cross that section). This is a frustration to many of the fitter and more impatient hikers causing some to take risky and, in my opinion, unnecessary maneuvers outside of the confines of the cables. That's how accidents happen - very scary!

After 6 grueling hours of hiking, we finally reached the top. I must admit I was pretty fatigued at that point - it would have been nice to have a nap - but no, we had to get down before it got too dark. So, after a brief rest, we started on the way down again. Since it was towards the end of the day, there were fewer people coming up the cables so traveling down was a lot quicker (just as well, as you don’t need to spend time looking down and contemplating what could happen if you slip).

Going down is faster and takes less effort, though it is potentially more damaging to the body. The stone steps alongside Vernal Falls are tall and steep and particularly punishing on the knees - I don't think we were built to do that sort of thing. Nevertheless, we all survived and we were all still walking upright at the end. The whole trip took almost 12 hours with the last mile or so being finished in the dark. The pizza and beer in Curry Camp were never so inviting.

Here are some more photos of the trip.