My very first half dome hike!

The date of the hike had been decided months in advance, thanks to Maneesh who likes to have it all planned out way ahead of time! It was not as if I was thinking about doing it, I don’t do things I am scared of unless I commit to them :). To really get me to commit he had put it on Father’s Day of all days!. I forwarded the email out to my group without putting any commitments from my side ;) or asking for any (just in case someone committed I would be definitely more committed to go, so I thought it was better to keep my mouth shut).

I had definitely felt awed by the last year half dome hikes and seeing all the pictures and video I was amazed at the kind of hike Maneesh and his friends Thomas, Ajith, Rajesh, Jose, Som, Manoj and others had done and I definitely remembered listening in to their experiences either directly or indirectly. Anyway I am not going to reiterate those as this blog is about my hike ;). That would be another story. Still my fear factor especially about the bears and cable was very high, especially about the bears as I had seen a bear very close in the very first hike and read about the engaging experience Maneesh and Som had had.

I did find that hardly (actually no one) in the group was keen about the half dome hike, which was just as well for me but then along came Vidya who really was very interested in doing the hike together with me, so we started just by doing the Mission Peak hikes together. I had been having a very interesting and packed with events 2010 already so I was not looking to have some extra thrills on the way!. I had already promised 1 month of commitment to volunteering for a fundraiser for dancing for me for my birthday and no FB during that time, followed up by 1 month of painting(which is still going on…) for my birthday as my birthday gift to me :). This is a separate story as well :).



Satheesh went to India and Vidya could not come and my total commitment to Half Dome started going down. After he came back Vidya had hurt her foot! So I thought I am going to be getting a pleasure trip to Yosemite now but that was not to be. Liz had planned to go with us and was planning to hike with me. Now with two-three weeks left to go it seems I had no choice but to try and get out of the house and get working for Half Dome. I started off by getting to the gym and found my elliptical timing had gone down so bumped that up again. I did start back on Mission Peak diligently sometimes going by myself on the weekend and sometimes with Suma, and in the last week went every single day till the day we left for Yosemite . All the earlier hikes with my hiking group friends esp. Preethy, Asha, Radhika, Vinaya, Nishi had helped quite a bit in getting my endurance level up to this point.



I was still not feeling real about doing the hike and Maneesh carefully packed my backpack (next time I think I will participate more and pack some brown curd rice :) ). It had been a busy week and the only time we packed was just before leaving. The drive was nice as usual, Maneesh drove and I just slept off , I was tired after the week. We got the Curry village cabin in the same row on the same side as in the first half dome hike Maneesh had done, exactly where the bear was seen that last time :).

I had a dinner of veg burger on olive-tomato focaccia at the Curry Village dining area, which has a lot of choices but my reading on nutrition has made me more choosy if I am going to be paying for it !!. I bought a nice hat, as the hat I had, had become colored being washed with some colored fabric. I talked to Liz later in the evening and we decided to leave around 4:30 AM. We slept off early and I checked out FB before going to sleep thanks to the cellphone I had recently acquired recommended by two friends. I had about 3.5 litre of water with two bottles filled with Gatorade and two cliff bars and 3 fruits, all packed by Maneesh. He had also explained to me how to use a Swiss knife in case I saw a bobcat but thankfully I did not need to use it as I was not able to figure out how to open it anyway. I had sunscreen, my cellphone, the two permits and two hiking sticks.

My alarm woke us all up at 4 AM including Prem :). I and Liz were partially ready already when we slept off and we just got everything together and took off at 4:30 AM with Liz holding the torch. Not a single soul was around and here I was expecting hordes of people going to half dome!!. That was a bit unnerving but we kept going. Maneesh had shown me the previous evening how to get to the trail head where John Muir trail began. I was easily able to guide us both there and 1 mile passed by very quickly. Once we began the John Muir trail my illusions of finding an easy gradient going up evaporated as the gradient was similar to Mission Peak all the way up!!. After doing Mission Peak I had been thinking that the only thing I need to worry about is the cables, I was wrong. The weight of the backpack was also biting into my shoulders. Next time more Mission Peak hiking with backpack loaded.

Liz was much faster than me. I had to try and keep up with her. Maneesh had told me earlier that she had done 50 miles of biking and had a very good pace. This was the first time I was hiking with her and I had to work to keep up with her Or try and delay and take picture at points of interest and upload it on FB :). My USB cable connector with the cellphone still does not work so this was the only way to upload any way and it made me feel connected in spite of being absolutely isolated in the hike. Liz had eaten a bar while starting and I ate 1 fruit.

It was switchbacks quite a bit of the way after Vernal falls and we talked some and stopped to drink water. It was amazing to see the views from this point especially the Upper and Lower Yosemite falls. We kept having fruit now and kept going on, soon Half Dome came in view again with the Nevada falls. It was amazing to see it A few hikers passed us by now, thanks to my slower speed. We went through a waterfall here and it was so much fun, thanks to my hat my head did not get wet but Liz and I were both very cold for quite some time later on. Earlier we were peeling off layers and now we were cold :). Finally we crossed the Nevada Fall bridge and took a break, hmm I still not had any carbs (not at all tempted by those bars), we sat down to talk and eat. At this point we were talking more about how the year had been.

We passed by the Backpackers camp now and suddenly a beautiful deer came right in front of us. It was not scared and kept coming near and near :). Liz had mentioned that when she goes she never sees a bear and that held true as we never ever saw a bear. Now we were back to climbing up again into the wooded area. Some people on horses passed us by now. I had not thought that anyone would be taking horses up here. Liz offered to keep one of my bottles for me now as my backpack was hurting me. She was going at a fast pace and the fear of bears made me wanting to keep up more and more. It was nice to see some other hikers feeling tired on the way as well and not just me. The views had become breathtaking now and we had come to rocky area without any tree cover. Initially I thought this was the sub dome and was elated. It did not look bad at all and there were some steps. Excitedly I took some pics. My tummy was not feeling good at this point but I did eat the bar now and we both finally found the base of the sub dome and sat there.

At the base of the sub dome three rangers were sitting down and collecting the permits. I finally found the permits which I was not sure I wanted to find and we started going up. I was feeling light headed at this point and not feeling too well but I did want to go and see the cables somehow. Liz offered to carry one more bottle for me, which was so nice of her but seeing the narrow ledge and the steep drop somehow was setting me back mentally too though I was trying to go slowly but it did not feel safe. Liz had been talking to me, to go down if I was not feeling upto it, finally I got talked into it but I was feeling bad about leaving her :(. In any case, I took the extra weight of the bottles off her and we decided to meet back in the valley.

Once I got off sub dome I just did not look at the view, had mixed feelings about going back but I also felt relieved somehow. Talked to people on the way and came to know their stories about going up and told them mine about going down :). Some were first timers. Met a Dad who had come with his 10 year old daughter and he told that he has three and he always brings them when they turn 10 to Half Dome !!. I thought it was interesting as it does make you get over your fears. As there were few people on the trail and I was by myself, even though I was tired I was running most of the way as I kept thinking about the Bear encounter Maneesh and Som had earlier in their hike. If I keep thinking of a bear behind me, I can easily run the marathon, looks like :). This way I was very fast and soon reached Nevada falls before I knew it. !! I did take a wrong turn in between and landed close to the Backpackers camp. I took a break at Nevada Falls and sat down to eat something even when it was not good for my tummy as there were a lot of people picnicking around and definitely no bear and I wanted to get my energy levels up. I had to ask a few times to make sure I was going on the right JM Trail rather than turning to some other one !!.

Started the run/walk again :). Going through the waterfall was nicer than the morning as it was hot and the waterfall somehow had less water now. After this I tagged along with a group of high school students who were moving at a very fast pace and doing dangerous things like walking on the ledge right next to the cliff which was to protect you from falling down. They did not seem to have any fear!. I was just happy though to be tagging along to be away from any bear and had no energy to comment :). This time around we were just moving so fast that we came to the base of Vernal falls very soon and I was happy to hear “Mommy Mommy” !! :). Prem was goofing around here with Maneesh and Maneesh happily took my backpack which was such a relief as it had been heavy and hurting. We walked back to cabin and I just flopped :) :). Now there is another set of showers which was right next to our tent cabin so I quickly took a shower and went to Yosemite Village to eat the sandwich at the Village grill which was quite healthy and yummy. I had the veg burger on whole grain bread with sweet potato fries. Though my tummy was still not feeling great so nothing stayed :). Bought the medicine from the Village store shop and that was the best thing to eat !. We met my partner Liz later and it was great to see her and know that she reached the top !!!! and she had got some very nice dark chocolate for me. Next time I need to take some chocolate to the top and my very own sandwiches and curd rice and sunglasses :). Later, Maneesh told me that I did around 18 miles and 4500 elevation gain. He wore GPS when he did his hike following day.All in all an amazing hike and experience which days later makes me smile so much !!!!!!!!!!!!. At the start of the hike I was thinking after this what but I guess I will have to come back to Half Dome before trying any other major hike :).
 
Links to pictures :
 
 http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/album.php?aid=181025&id=611452023&ref=mf
 
 http://picasaweb.google.com/102865550794366949647/2010June#