Photograph Daddy

Yosemite

Last weekend I went to Yosemite and hiked from the Yosemite Valley to Half Dome. My friends had gone last year and ran out of time, forcing them to head back down before climbing the infamous cables to the top. Not wanting to run our of time this year, we woke up at 2:00 AM and headed out, beginning our hike around 3:30 AM from the trailhead parking lot.

In case you don’t know, I’m not a very experienced hiker. Just in the last 4-6 months I purchased some boots and went on two or three hikes in preparation for Half Dome. I’d never hiked as far or as long as I would on this day.

The way up was difficult but I was making it. My camera battery died about two thirds of the way up which is why the above trail cuts off early. This also meant I missed out on taking many pictures of the beautiful view.

Once we made it up to just before Half Dome I was beat. I sat on a rock taking in the glorious view of the mountains and valleys surrounding us. A few in our group wanted to continue up the granite stair case and on to the treacherous Half Dome cables. I decided this was a big enough accomplishment for me and rested while they continued on.

I was later glad of my decision as many had come to conquer Half Dome on this sunny Saturday. The line to and ascent up the cables took two hours for my friends to complete. Half of our group began the descent back to the valley before they were back down. Stopping and waiting at a stream in order to resupply our water using the pump we had brought along.

By the end of our journey it was once again dark. Our bodies beaten and attitudes on the edge we dragged ourselves back to the car and like zombies drove back to our cabin. When we arrived, after 10:00 PM, I was asked if I had fun. At the time I was so exhausted that it all felt like torture. As the days have gone by my memories of the adventure grow fonder.