So the alarm goes off at 6 am and I reach my hand outside my sleeping bag to turn it off and it is FREEZING. Sabo half wakes up and mutters the most loaded question in the history of questions... "so are we gonna get up now or just snooze it for a little bit" uhhhhhhhhhhhhh obvious snooze.
We get up at 6:30 and it is 22 degrees outside so we ghetto packed the site... we balled up the tent and rainfly and ground tarp and threw it in the back, tossed our sleeping bags and pads in the second seat, got the cooler out of the bear locker and shoved it in the trunk (you cant keep food or deodorant or toothpaste in your cars or tents or bears will come rip your face off to get it) and were on the road. From awake to driving out of the campground was about 2 minutes.
We were about an hour from the trailhead (Yosemite is huge, we were way south and had to drive up and then west into the valley), so we got there about 7:30 and changed clothes, filled up our camelbaks (backpacks that hold water to drink), wolfed a couple granola bars and got going. We had to park a little ways away from the trail head so we finally got there at 8:15ish and OUR JOURNEY BEGINS
The first 2 or 3 miles were basically switchbacks just getting you up the mountain. Since we got a late start (most people hiking half dome start at or before 6 am) we decided to just crank it out at a pretty good pace and not take too many breaks. Definitely tiring, but Yosemite is beautiful and you get distracted by the breathtaking views at every corner
About 4 hours in we had gone high enough to cross the snow line and all of a there is sudden 2-3 inches of snow everywhere. We stopped to eat some peanut butter bread and scope the view before tackling sub dome (2nd to last part of the hike) and half dome (the end!).
I smile in the pictures, but really I just wanted to sit down in the trail and drink water/cry
Sub dome is the little bump in the top right of this picture, and half dome is the one at the top left. The slope between them doesn't look that steep, but it is a 45-50 degree pitch so they have run 2 sets of cables up the rock to aid the reckless souls who want to get up half dome
To help you climb up sub dome they have cut a bunch of stairs into the granite, HOPE YOUR LEGS ARENT TIRED
HALF DOME CABLES NEXT UPDATE
Sabo looks SO excited to start the day in that picture. Your picture of drinking water and crying really made me laugh, what a fun trip!
ReplyDeleteWow, beautiful views and really up there! What was the altitude? Is Sabo always that happy at 6:30 am?????
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