Half Dome Day Hike Pics [56K death]

[bmwman91]

Alrighty, so a couple friends & I decided to hike Half Dome. We had talked about it a couple weeks prior, but ended up not being able to go for various reasons the other weekends. Well, we were determined to go since the cables would only be up for a few more weeks. Originally 4-7 people were going to go, but they either got sick or assigned a higher priority to other stuff. It was just myself and 2 others.

So, here was the timeline:
- I woke up at ~830AM saturday
- Messed with MAF conversion
- Ate lunch and hung out at home
- Left for Stockton around 7PM
- Got to UOP and met up with the 3rd friend around 9PM
- Grilled and BS'ed with friends from college
- Left for Yosemite at 12AM sunday
- Arrived, prepared for the hike and began walking at 4AM
- Summited Half Dome at 10:04AM
- Got back to the car at 3:07PM
- Stopped at In N Out burger at ~6PM
- Rested in Stockton/showered until 10PMish
- Got in bed at 11:30PM
- Up at 6AM for work Monday....uuuugh

~40 hours awake, 11 of which were prettymuch a non-stop 18 mile hike. We spent a total of about 30 minutes NOT hiking (tying shoes, eating a muffin, taping my friend's blisters and snapping a few group pics). The sleep deprivation made the hike interestnig, to say the least. By 9AM we were all up more than 24 hours and to the point where we no longer felt tired...just braindead and our faces got that "I should have slept" burning feeling. We were actually more into it for the endurance challenge than the view. It was a good chance to push some limits a little, although the hike really was not that tough. It was long, but we chugged through it pretty well. All in all, a very good time.

So, chances are nobody read any of it anyway and is just wanting pics. Here they be!

Path as traced on Google Earth, said 19.2 miles. Beats me if it is really that far.
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We started in pitch darkness. The LED headlamps we had were of great use. All I can say is that coming back in the daylight sucked...you really have no idea of how much ground you cover/altitude you gain in the dark...the walk back seemed a LOT longer. Around 7:15AM the stars almost disappeared (looks lighter than it was with the night-exposure). Startnig at night IS recommended though...you use a LOT less water that way.
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The sun was coming!
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Geee...you think the squirrels are used to being fed?
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A view from the sub-sub-dome.
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[bmwman91]

Once we ascended the sub-dome (easily the toughest/most gruelling part of the whole thing) we had a pretty good view. The cable climb was next...~600ft vertically in maybe 200ft horizontally.
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While on the cables I snapped a couple pics. Honestly, going down is a lot easier than going up. Just grab the cable with one hand standing outside them and let your hand slide, prettymuch just walking straight down the rock.
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[bmwman91]

Once at the summit we grabbed a couple pics. A 4600ft straight drop is a little intimidating to be standing on, especially with a light breeze blowing toward the edge. The view was amazing though, even being sleep deprived.
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Uhoh, showing a picture of myself on the internet...asking for photoshop shaming. Well, that and being silly & trying to do hand stands up there. The ~8900ft altitude + no sleep made it all the more fun!
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The Yosemite Valley. Very nice!
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There is a huge pile of gloves at the bottom of the cables. People are kind enough to bring them and leave them for others who might not have brought any.
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Nevada Falls. By this time of summer it is not exactly a torrential downpour. Having most of the hike shaded by trees was very nice, too.
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Approaching Vernal Falls...
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And the bottom of Vernal Falls...still a good 2 miles from the car. In the third Google Earth pic you can see the second (lower) ridge/falls. Descending the stone steps sucked lol. We were definitely ready to get some In N Out. Pounding some Rockstar energy drinks was also a key part of making the drive back.
http://www.e30tuner.com/adventure/images/hd9242006/hdhike39.jpg

[FL318is]

When I get home I will find my Vegas hiking pics. Now thats what I'm talking 'bout. Next time we go theres a hike where you go to a 1950's crash site. Old airplane from the Skunk Works, from what I have been told. Really want to see that.

BTW looks like a great hike. Been out there but not in that capacity.

what dpi are you using?

[bmwman91]

The camera is a 6mpx Olympus FC-120 I believe. A nice little point & shoot. Minus a few pics, all of them were taken at like 2.5ish mpx. The quality is fine for me there...1600x1200 image with very little JPEG compression. If I think I will want a print I will set it to 6mpx, otherwise I prettymuch just take the 1600x1200 pics and resize them to 800x600 for the web anyway.

[D. Clay]

That sky is just too blue! My kind of brainwashing.

[bmwman91]

My kind of brainwashing.
Seriously. It is so nice to get out and clear your head, hike and goof around in a forest with friends. Having nothing to worry about other than stepping and deciding where to get more water is so refreshing! It sucks to go back to work every time I get back from a trip!

Oh and BTW I can email full size uncompressed pics to anyone who wants copies. These are 39 of 110 pics I took, and I will put the panoramas up once they are assembled.

[dude8383]

DUDE!!!! Remember back in august my post about san fran...well after that we went to yosemite national park! We did the the half dome hike as well!!! Except for one thing...we got started around 10 in the morning, that was our biggest mistake. I climbed up fairly quick, but it took my mom and her b/f about an hour and a half longer to get up! I was actually climbing down the steel cables as they were just starting the way up!

Man the view was great huh? That was one of the most intense hikes I've done...however it doesn't stand anywhere near the hike I did in Edmonton, Cananda. Mt. Rundle..that was a hike!

Anyways back to Half Dome...once they got down we started heading back. We bumped into 5 Irish guys climbing down around the area where the out-houses/bathrooms were. By that time it was already getting dark. I asked if they wanted to join us because we had two flashlights (one i packed just in case we did have to walk down in the middle of the night).

So there were two ways to get down, back the same way we came which was a bit longer, approx 2.5 miles? The other route was 2.1...I wanted to get down ASAP and man did i pay for making that decision for everyone else! It ended being way steeper and I busted my shin on a rock..

To tie things up we got down around 10:30 absolutely exhausted, the Irish dudes thanked us like 500 times for being there at the right moment..


*EDIT*

Just read the whole post...we went down the same way except at night! A group of 8 people, one tiny maglite and some flimsy "everdy" lantern type flashlight really sucked on the way man! We got lost twice and my mom's b/f and I had to climb and search around for the trial. I gotta tell you though, it was a real rush to do it at night...really motivated me to get down quickly!

[bmwman91]

Haha sounds like a hell of an adventure you had!

Yeah, the Mist trail is pretty nuts. Descending it at night has to suck. The Muir trail was marked as 4.5mi to Happy Isles, and the Mist was marked 2.5 where they split. Honestly, the Muir trail would have been the same amount of tmie hiking since it was so much easier. Oh well, I am always up for something new!

Went UP the Muir trail, down the Mist trail in our case.

[dude8383]

Went UP the Muir trail, down the Mist trail in our case.

yup! should have went down the same exact way! the view of the falls over there was just amazing... the water was so refreshing after hiking in the sun for quite some time. I loved the hike, I'm definitly going back to Yosemite but I want to try something a bit harder and longer.

When I was heading up the steel cables these guys were coming down with hard hats...later I found out that these dudes started around the same time you began your hike, except they went straight up! I can't imagine rock climbing all the way up there, must be a hell of workout and test of endurance!

[2002maniac]

Sweet! I did that hike when I was 16 only we started hiking from some other trailhead (dont remember which) that made the hike 24 miles round trip.

That was a whole lot up up and down for one day.

IN-N-Out always tastes like heaven after a hike.

[bmwman91]

So, since then have you moved to UT, ot did you come all the way out here for Yoemite (I would, it is amazing)? I did a lot of hiking in the Boy Scouts as a kid, and oddly enough, living 5 hours from the place we never did Half Dome. We hiked all over the area, some hikes being even longer, but we never did the HD.

[2002maniac]

So, since then have you moved to UT, ot did you come all the way out here for Yoemite (I would, it is amazing)? I did a lot of hiking in the Boy Scouts as a kid, and oddly enough, living 5 hours from the place we never did Half Dome. We hiked all over the area, some hikes being even longer, but we never did the HD.

I moved to Utah 2 yrs ago. Grew up in So-cal. Thousand Oaks to be exact.

You should come to Zions Natl park some time. It is amazing up here.