Sarah Wallock
Half Dome is the ultimate Yosemite day hike – the one you can’t die without doing, and the one you’re most likely to die while doing.
Yosemite Day Hikes
Last week, Nick, Ben and I hiked Half Dome. Half Dome is a dome-shaped rock in Yosemite National Park- famous for its unique shape and its significance in the valley. After having flashbacks to summiting the cables last year, I definitely was having second thoughts about doing the 16 mile hike again. But after remembering what an incredible experience it was the first time, I decided to take up this awesome opportunity. Below are photos of Half Dome, and two images from the hike in summer 2018.
To beat the crowds and to avoid the heat, both times I hiked, I did it overnight. It was so much fun skipping down the trail while hundreds of people were just beginning their ascent. Not to mention, there is something so eerie and cool about hiking at night. We started at 12:15am in Curry Village and headed up the John Muir Trail. We took the John Muir Trail up and the Mist Trail down. Up by Nevada Falls, we got soaked by the abundant amounts of water shooting from smaller waterfalls along the trail. Many of the streams that run through the trail were overflowing because of the heavy snowfall this year.
We were pretty nervous about shivering up at Half Dome because last summer, we hiked so quickly that we spent one and a half hours at the top, in high winds and darkness, freezing. I can only remember one other time where I was that freezing! Luckily, this time, we paced ourselves better and climbed the cables just as the sun was about to rise and didn’t have any temperature problems. It was such a smooth hike and a really tranquil experience.
On our way down, our legs definitely started to feel numb after 10 hours of hiking. On the way down, we were completely reassured by our decision to hike at night. Near Half Dome and Sub Dome, there were few hikers and many friendly faces, but the closer we got to the Mist Trail, there were excessive amounts of people as early as 9am. It became pretty difficult to navigate at times because so many people were just standing on the trail and taking photos. We ultimately finished around 10:20am. The hike was totally worth it, but we were exhausted for the following two days. Because we were too tired to drive, we laid out our towels in Curry Village and slept for two hours before leaving the valley. Our exhaustion and soreness didn’t stop Nick, Ben or I from waterskiing on Bass Lake the next day and I would do it all again in a heartbeat. I am hoping to find some similarly challenging and rewarding hikes in New Zealand.
