Sunday, was going to get up early and do the Half Dome Hike, even though the summit cables were down for the Winter, which meant i probably wouldn't be able to go all the way up. (I optimistically packed Sorrel snow boots and a pair of walking sticks, just in case.) But at 06:30, i was still tired from Saturday's celebrating and running, and i decided to sleep in. So i got up at 10am, feeling mostly human, and ate a large breakfast at the Ahwahnee Hotel where we were staying. Then i walked to the closest bus stop to catch a ride to Happy Isles, near the beginning of the Half Dome trail. My legs were still hurting from running the day before.
I was carrying quite a lot of gear for a day hike:
I was also wearing long underwear, shorts, a t-shirt, and trail-running shoes. Alone, what i was wearing was more than warm enough for all but about 30 minutes of the hike. And it turns out the snow boots were overkill, too. (I figured worst case, if i got totally lost, i'd be OK if i put on all my clothes and spent the night under a tree.)
It still being morning, i was a little groggy, and i made a wrong turn at the start, and didn't figure it out for about 2 km, until i came to a bridge where there should not have been a bridge. Which sucked, because i was already going to run out of daylight on the roughly 12-hour Half Dome hike. I turned around, and decided to just go as far as i could.
So i turned around, and went back, and "restarted" about 12:30. It's a beautiful but steep hike on a paved path along the Merced River. Mostly, i think i was on the Mist Trail, and a bit of the John Muir, until getting on the Half Dome trail at the top.
After the hike, i uploaded my GPS data into Googleearth (Plus, $20/year), and took a couple of screen shots of the path. (It's the light-blue line): One and Two
I turned back at 16:15 where it says "Turnaround." On the way up, i put on my snowboots where it says "Snowboots" and took them off and left them where it says "bootcache." (I was getting really tired of carrying the extra weight. I picked them up on the way down.) According to Google Earth, the entire trek (including the mistake at the beginning) was 17.1 miles. (No wonder my legs are still sore two days later.) I did also head back up the mist trail a short bit, because i was a little worried about a couple i passed on the way down, about 30 minutes before the GPS said the Sun was going to set. (The Mist Trail has a particularly dangerous section of slippery, steep cut-granite steps, and the couple didn't seem to have any lights or other gear.) By the time the three of us made it back to Happy Isles about 19:30, i was feeling pretty good (probably from walking on flat earth at a lower altitude), so i just walked all the way back to the Ahwahnee Hotel. I got back about 20:00 (8pm).
Here are the pictures i took in the Valley and along the trail. (Some are from Satruday and Monday.)
It was a wonderful hike. I can't wait to do it again and get to the top of Half Dome, and see the views!
