Half Dome: 6.27.03 Andrew Yue Inspired by Greg Walker’s trip/pictures, I made out for a weekend in the Yosemite Valley with day hikes to Half-Dome and El Capitan. Driving from LA on a Thursday evening, I crashed at a Motel 6 in Fresno for a few hours before heading out to Yosemite around 3am. I arrived at the park just as it was getting light. An hour drive to the valley was breathtaking as I caught glimpses as I gained elevation and lost it. The view near the Wawona tunnel was amazing. Finally arriving in the valley around 6am, I changed quickly and hit the trailhead as a lonely coyote and lots of hikers already started on the well traveled trail. The hike up from the trailhead was a bit tiring as I hiked towards Nevada falls. It was still early though and cool, though I wanted to reach Half-dome before the influx of a gazillion hikers. Nevada Falls was amazing as I stair-cased by in the misted trail. Equally as pleasant I passed another bunch of hikers past Vernal falls. The next section of trail was mostly flat as I booked along a fast pace trying to again beat the crowds to the top. The air was warming up quickly and I soon realized I had missed the “faucet” and “pool” of water that would allow me to reload. Conserving water I made it up the shoulder of Half-dome at about 11am. A brief break of water and food, I grabbed two out of the last 5 gloves on the bottom and made my way up to the cables. First of all, I was very scared every time I had to remove my hand from the cable to pass a metal pole. Not to mention I didn’t realize how tiring it was. Only about 15 minutes later I reached the top to breath-taking views of Yosemite Park along with about 30 other hikers. The top was enormous, you could play football up top. I drank the rest of my water and had some food. Applying another layer of sunscreen I took a short nap before playing around with my camera. I was amused by some pranksters joking about falling and so on. I made my way down as the large crowd of 50+ people were making their way up the cables. Surprisingly I was less on the way down as I never needed to turn around figuring out a way to make it past the horde on one cable. Hiking down was pleasant and good-feeling as I passed about another 50 people or so making their way up to the dome. I had to bush-whack off the trail half-way down to get water as I still couldn’t find this easy-to-miss water source. Passing very few people from the Merced River down, I took the alternate but longer route down from the top of Vernal Falls. This path was also beautiful with cooling stream-falls and gorgeous views of Nevada and Vernal falls on the edge of the cliff. Finally I made it down to the bottom around 3:45pm. I rushed to hit the 4pm show at the Yosemite Auditorium, actually staying there til around 5:30 for the last show in the very cool AC. After that, I took a break at the Yosemite grocery store, getting some Powerade and rehydrating and resting my aching legs. Driving around some I found a beautiful view of Bridaveil Falls and the valley. Taking some pictures there I rushed back to the trailhead near North Pines and hiked the short 1.2 miles to Mirror Lake to catch sunset on Half-Dome. The mosquitos were horrendous near the lake swarming like mad. I had to wade across the lake (next time take the road) to get better views as I saw a marmot playing in the rapids. A quick hike back to the stable parking lot I drove past El-Portal to a pull off and crashed the night. Total distance: 8.2+9.4+2.4 = 20 miles Elevation gain/loss: 4800 Max temp – 96 degrees F. El Capitan: 6.28.03 Waking up to a 5:30 alarm call, I drove back to the Valley and swiped a Camp 4 parking pass from a leaving car. Hitting the trailhead at 6:45am, I hiked up the steep set of switch backs not wanting to stop despite the heavy sweat because of the pesky mosquitos. Finally, as the trail straightened out and went towards Yosemite Falls the view of the valley was gorgeous about 800 feet of the floor as the open air was mosquito-less. The climb up the falls was wonderful with views though treacherous. Going up another 2000-some feet in probably 2 miles was very tiring. I had to stop half-way to filter more water, already consuming about a gallon by this point. The top of the falls was amazing. A short spur tail (0.3mi) lead to a wonderful outlook and access to a very sketchy and dangerous one-sided stair case to the top of the falls. The view here was magnificent though nerve-racking since I was all by myself. After some picture-taking and a water/food break, I headed off the remaining 4.7 miles to El Capitan brandishing a sleeve-less T-shirt. I didn’t last more than 20 seconds before I raced to get out my yellow Boston Marathon shell out as the mosquitos swarmed me for the next 3 miles. The trail though mostly flat, had many ascending sections that you couldn’t take a break because the mosquitos were so bad (next time bring repellant!!!). Not to mention, the only partial break from their swarming was in the hot sun. Passing only 3 people thus far, with about 1.5 miles to go the woods opened up a bit after a steep descent through some of the worst bug-infested woods yet. The mosquitos seemed to disappear as the sights of the Three Brothers and valley came into view. The rest of the hike was very exposed but despite the hot sun, a cool breeze was pleasant. I reached the summit around 12:45pm only to take a nice nap and to eavesdrop on some other hikers. I hiked to LONG distance to the edge (losing probably 300 feet of elevation) to see the edge. I found a fire-pit at the edge (sketchy) and slowly made my way back up to the top. Passing another 5 hikers, I headed back towards the top of the falls. The hike back was slightly more pleasant knowing I was on the way back AND given the fact it was mostly downhill (except the one part) and that the hot air had lessened the attacks of the mosquitos. Heading down the trail from the falls was very enjoyable as I passed another 30 hikers or so. The views of the falls were much better given the sunlight angle as I played around on my camera. Finally reaching the bottom around 5:00 I again headed to the village for food, water, and rest. Taking my time, I made my way out to the Bridaveil Fall lookout for dinner and more picture taking. Finally I drove out to El Portal again to crash around 9pm. Total Distance: 7.9+.6+7.9+.6 = 17 miles Elevation Gain/loss: ~3000 Glacier Point and Mariposa Grove: 6.29.03 Though not hiking, the last part of my Yosemite trip was driving from El Portal to Glacier Point. Taking off (late) at 5:10am, I made it to Glacier Point around 6am. I watched the sun rise over Half-dome and the valley as I watched privately with only one small family of three. Playing around with the camera a bit, I meandered around the area enjoying the views. Heading off towards Mariposa Grove I passed a huge male adult black bear crossing the road. By the time I reached to where it had passed, it was out of sight. However, by the time I had enough courage to leave the car the bear roared at me as I (like a chicken) went back into the car and drove off. I reached Mariposa around 9am and hiked the 2.1 miles to the fallen-tunnel tree. It was partially anti-climatic except for the few deer I could have touched on the way there. The hike back was fast as I passed probably around 100 people. Driving back to LA was interesting as the temps went from 98 in the desert to 69 in Culver City. Well, it was an amazing trip.