Half DomeOne of our goals after moving to California was to go to Yosemite National Park and hike Half Dome. I remember hiking with Kristin one day through Edgewood Park talking about this. She was so excited to plan a trip and I knew from then on that we would go.
We went with our friend Kristin and her dad, Ralph. In preparation for the big hike Matt and I went to REI and bought Camelbaks and headlamps. The plan was to hike Half Dome at NIGHT!
We packed up the car and headed to Yosemite early Friday morning. We did not have a campsite because we had decided upon a weekend too late in the camping season. We finally found a camp site that was 3 miles off the main road, but it was perfect. We set up the tents and went for a drive on the valley floor to check it out. Matt and I were totally amazed at how gorgeous it was. It was totally different than Yellowstone (which we had visited summer 2008). As we were driving we got to see Half Dome for the first time. It looked so large even though we were far away. We saw El Capitan, Bridal Veil, the Awani Hotel and Curry Village. Then we headed back to our camp to eat an early dinner and get a few hours of sleep before the big climb.
We woke up for the climb at 10:30 pm. It was a full moon and you could see your breath. I found it funny that most people were just going to bed and we were getting ready to hike. The drive to the trailhead was 45 minutes long and Kristin pumped us up with some Jeremy Camp! When we arrived at the trailhead we realized that we were not the only people with the idea to hike at night.
We started hiking at 12:07 AM. Our head lamps and the full moon provided amazing light to light the path. Before we began the hike we prayed for God's protection and then hit the trail. It was so crazy to hike at night having never hiked Half Dome before. Matt and I did not know what we were passing. (That was probably a good thing.)
After 5 hours of hiking we reached the top of Half Dome, about 30 minutes before the sunrise. We were totally surprised to see all of the people at the top. It was the most amazing feeling to get to the top. The last 40 feet on the cables were very tough. I was singing and praying every step of the way. This was the view from the top as we waited for the sun to poke its head out.
It was quite cold at the top in addition we were wearing sweaty clothes. So we huddled to stay warm.
The minute the sun broke forth everyone started clapping. It was so neat. We even saw someone propose.
After the sun came up we hung out on the top of the dome for about an hour. We wanted to make sure to enjoy every minute of it since it was quite the accomplishment.
We even gathered up enough courage to step out onto the diving board rock, even though we said we would never do that. We did not dare not look down.
I think this is my favorite picture. It was the most amazing feeling to accomplish the cables. I consider myself a pretty athletic person and those cables were challenging. I was so grateful to get to climb side by side with my best friend, sharing this emotional and physical success with him.
The climb down took about 5 hours as well (total time round trip 12 hours, 16 miles) since there were so many people hiking up. It was truly amazing to hike up in the darkness and down in the daylight. Everything we passed we had never seen before. Going down the stairs (the part right before the cables) I had no idea how steep they were. Once we finished the hike and had eaten some lunch we headed to Glacier point. WOW! It was so fun because we on a hiking high, still in our same hiking clothes staring at Half Dome saying we were on top of that about 5 hours ago! So cool! Thank you Kristin and Ralph for going with Matt and I, encouraging us and sharing an adventure of a lifetime. We will always remember this trip with pleasant memories!
Matt's mom brought us the best presents ever, homemade goodies. She made me 3 GF pies - two peach and one raspberry. She also gave us several cans of salsa, canned peaches and canned pears. Yum!
