Climbing Half Dome

I got permits to hike Half Dome in September 2016, so I went with my girlfriend and parents. We left the hotel in El Portal in the dark, and it was still dark as we set out from the hikers parking lot. The first few miles are on roads or paved, so they were easy to follow in the dark. When we got to the bridge at the base of Vernal Falls, it had gotten light out. We stopped to use the last flush toilets on the trail, and fill up from the water fountain there.

Water Break

The hike up to the top of the falls was steep, but not too bad. By the time we got to Nevada Falls, the sun had made it up over the mountains. There were some fearless squirrels on the switchbacks up Nevada Falls, and we got some good pictures of it running around.

Not much water in September.

Upon reaching the top of the falls, we had a pleasant hike through Little Yosemite Valley, to the campground. There we stopped to use the bathroom and fill up on water. I shared my water filter with some other hikers whose had broken. The last few miles were uphill through the forest to the base of the subdome. At one stop Jessica ate her noodles that she had cooked last night. My parents got a kick out of that.

The cables.

There was a sign an the base of the subdome, but no ranger, so we continued up. Here the trail becomes exposed and much steeper, climbing the granite. At the base of the cables we took a break to secure our bags and put on our gloves. There were some climbers going over the sides to pick up dropped water bottles and other garbage, and we watched them as we prepared ourselves for the final section.

Very steep. I was too chicken to get out the camera on the steepest sections.

Climbing the cables was less difficult than I thought it would be, though there were a lot of people on them. At the top we were stopped by the ranger, who checked our permits. He said he had caught and fined 5-6 people already that day. The fine is a few hundred dollars.

Dad on the way up.

We ate lunch at the top, and took lots of pictures. Those of us brave enough dangled our legs over the edge of the diving board for a picture.
Going down the cables was tiring, holding on for dear life, but we all made it down safely. There were many fewer people on the cables by this time. The rest of the hike was a long walk out. We decided to take a different route down to avoid the big steps at Vernal Falls. This other route is the one that pack animals take, and it looked like it had been paved in the past, but it was very rough pavement.

In Little Yosemite Valley.

It got too dark to see by the time we got to the bottom of the falls, so we put on our headlamps for the final paved stretch to the car. Once we had all arrived, we ordered a pizza and drove home to eat it and sleep. Jessica and I went to the hot tub to soak our feet and legs in the hot water, but they kicked us out after only a few minutes. The next day we continued our adventures on the other side of the Sierra.