Yosemite Four
Filed Under (Extended family, Family, Yosemite) by Jay on 23-01-2010
Tagged Under : Yosemite
The last post in the Yosemite series…
…which took me long enough, right? Here’s the deal: the photos you’re about to see are from our last trek. John and the Schmit-Dog did a mini on our last day, but for Paul and for me, this was it.
This was the hike to Half Dome. John planned an incredible trip for us, and in his normal, be-prepared kind of way, he saved this hike for last. When we started talking about the Yosemite trip, my input was simple and limited: seeing pictures from John’s prior excursions to Yosemite, I wanted to do Half Dome. Period. “Jay, what do you want to do on the trip?” “Half Dome.” “Jay, what airport are you flying into?” “Half Dome.” “Jay, how’s the family?” “Half Dome.” You get the idea.
So Half Dome! I’m going to post a lot of pictures. We took over 835 photos on this trip! If anyone wants to see the raw footage (no commentary, no identifying info), go to EdgeProximity.com. You’ll see a banner photo and a photo labeled “The Pix”. Click there and you’re in! The pix are in no particular order — we’re talking raw.
Okay! Back to Half Dome! This was another overnighter, so you know it involved a bit of hiking and an amazing view or two. From John’s journal: “Jay, Paul and JG set out for the “hike of hikes” in the park as far as I am concerned. Sunrise Lake trail head at Tenaya Lake to Happy Isles by way of Cloud’s Rest and Half Dome.”
First stop — Cloud’s Rest. Cloud’s Rest is commonly seen in the background of Half Dome photos taken from the Yosemite Valley. 7.4 miles in, a couple of thousand feet (or so) to cover going up, the hike started off easily enough. But when the elevation came, it became brutal.
But check this out: at altitude, things change very slowly. Stuff takes years to grow (some of the floral vegetation is hundreds of years old). John asked us to stop to take this picture — in this exact location — because he has pictures from prior hikes that look identical. Maybe he doesn’t look identical (since we’re talking about some hikes over 20 years ago), but the growth and rock in the background are the same. Exactly the same. It’s freakin’ eerie! Since his prior pix were of him with his shirt off, this one had to be too.
From our prior posts, everyone remembers that the green stuff is trees, right? Yeah, it’s a long way down.
Okay, so we’re on our way! We’re doin’ some hiking. We’re going up. And up. And up. You folks that use stairmasters at the gym got nothin’ on us! And lo’ and behold, we come to the “Dinosaur’s Back”. That’s not it’s official name, but that’s what John calls it. It’s the last little bit of “up” before we make it up to the top of Cloud’s Rest:
No big deal, right? Well…yeah! Except if you look left, it’s about 1,800 feet down, and if you look right, it’s about 2,000 feet down. And despite what you think you see in these always deceiving pictures, it’s really, really easy to look down! Want some perspective?
Uh-huh. I know it looks “wide”, but maybe this will help:
Trust me on this: vertigo was definitely a part of the experience.
Okay, so we get up there. Then what? C’mon! Eat something! And more importantly, have a cigar!
Even at 11,000 plus feet, one can successfully light a cigar…
And yes, that’s Half Dome in the background. It’s about 1,500 feet below us, but unfortunately, nature doesn’t allow for a straight, downhill hike to get there. First you take a circuitous route down from Cloud’s Rest (losing about 2,500 of elevation we worked so hard to achieve), and then you start back up. But before we go, group shots!
Paul on the left, John in the middle, and well…everyone knows the ugly guy on the right. And yes, there’s a story behind the hat…
That’s the Tenaya Valley you see in the right background and it’s the same valley John posed in front of for his famous “lost in time” shot. Yes, it’s a big valley (we started this hike at Tenaya Lake almost eight miles ago…) You’ll see more of this valley from Half Dome. Anyway, to many hikers, the climb up and over Cloud’s Rest looks like hard work compared to simply hiking through the Tenaya Valley. It tempts many…
…but as John’s guidebook pointed out, the Tenaya Valley is not a place to hike through. Many that go in don’t come out. Quoting the guidebook, “if you find yourself in the Tenaya Valley, you’re blowing it bad…”
So! We don’t turn right! We turn left! And down we go! Down, down, down…nature is so cruel sometimes.
Half Dome in the background again. John perched on a nice leisurely path. Yeah, that was the “down” part…
Soon enough, we had the Ultimate Destination in our sights. Here’s an attempt at a literal reference:
It seemed funny at the time, okay? If you look at the tree line at the right side base of Half Dome, that’s our final destination for the day. Our plan is to hit the base, set up camp, and then on the following morning, make the climb up to the top just in time for sunrise. It’s an excellent plan.
Fast forward: we’re there. End of a long day (11 miles plus of hiking with serious elevation changes), sun setting, dinner almost ready courtesy of John, and a final cigar. Tomorrow’s goal directly behind (and above) us.
If I were a better photographer (and if the packs didn’t already weigh 35 pounds each), I’d have a camera that worked miracles at night. Because from very near the spot where this picture was taken, the view of the stars once the sun went down was incredible. I mean…amazing! As darkness approached, John asked me if I had ever seen the Milky Way. I laughed and shrugged my shoulders. “Of course,” I said.
Wrong! I couldn’t believe my eyes! The absence of artificial light means “dark” is actually dark. I know most of you are familiar with the concept, and I know some of you have experienced what I’m trying to describe. The best way I can think of to describe it was that looking into the night sky from that spot was like seeing stars (galaxies) through the Hubble Telescope (except obviously we were on the ground). Had I ever really seen the Milky Way? Hell no!
Daybreak! Almost…at about 4:30 AM, and at various moments, all of us slipped out of our comatose states to the sounds of voices. Damn! Someone was going to beat us to the top! That was not part of the plan! And it was an excellent plan! Okay. We’re awake. Let’s rock.
Tenaya Valley way below. Campsite below at the tree line. You get the feeling we’re climbing stairs? That’s because we basically are…
…somewhere over the decades, dedicated (crazy) fans of the Park “manicured” many of the more popular trail routes. Mountain goats (like John) have no trouble scurrying up the sides of anything, but mere mortals (like Paul and me) were thankful for the well-placed and well anchored “steps” piled onto and cut into the side of the rock face. This was some serious vertical going, and without the help of these “steps”, we’d have been working a lot harder.
The trail goes up and up until you reach one of the coolest sights I’ve ever seen. This was one of the scenes from John’s prior hikes that made me absolutely want to climb Half Dome. The cables:
Like the “steps” that got us here, these cables were installed to make the ascent up Half Dome possible for those of us born without mountain goat genes. Notice how there’s a pile of gloves on the right at the foot of the cables. You need ‘em. Take a pair, use ‘em, and put ‘em back when you come down.
Paul took this photo of John and me because he decided he’d climbed high enough. What, you’re not impressed? You should be. But maybe the sight of the cables took him by surprise. At least I had the benefit of seeing pictures before I saw the real thing. If you’re thinking “what’s the big deal?” maybe you need a better look:
Still not doing it for you? How’s this?
Or this? From above…
Yeah, Paul is still down there…you don’t see him? The guy in the white shirt is John. Paul is the speck on John’s left. (Side note of insanity: when it was time to go back down, John says “Jay, do it like this. It’s easiest.” He aims his head at the bottom, grabs the cables, and runs. I did no such thing…)
Here’s a similar view in reverse. Yeah…it’s fun. And just one more…sorry if you’re getting tired of the damn cables…just one more for proper perspective:
So! What’s it look like when you get to the top? Oh, it’s no big deal…
The outcropping the person is standing on is called the Diving Board. I’m sure you can figure out why. Let’s put this in perspective, shall we? Here’s a shot from the other side of the Valley (that I did not take — from Glacier Point) just so you can appreciate what you’re seeing:
See the Diving Board? Yeah…it’s up there. Cloud’s Rest is the “hump” just behind the left side of Half Dome. The green stuff on the left is the Tenaya Valley. Can anyone guess why I wanted to do this hike?
Let me show you my inspiration (this was in addition to John’s pix of the cables). Here’s John from a previous hike…on the Diving Board…doing it as only John can…
He calls this shot “the doctor told me to keep weight off my left knee”. This shot was my ultimate inspiration. Here’s my attempt at duplicating his pose (note sheer terror and trepidation):
The Valley is still in a shadow because the sun is coming up. When the trip was over, and I was lying safely in a hotel room bed, I did a little “back-of-the-napkin” math and determined that it would take between 35 and 40 seconds for one to hit the ground if one were to fall off this damn thing.
Okay! Check out the hole to my right (your left) in the above shot. That little cave leads to another hole directly beneath me. That’s called “the King’s Chair”. John showed me around in there, and then we grabbed a couple of pix:
You guessed it: that’s John hanging out of the King’s Chair. Wanna see what he saw?
There’s the Tanya Valley again. And yes, it’s a long way down.
A few more shots:
John snapped this of me while I was snapping shots of him.
And here he manages to catch me doing something I hate to be caught doing: staring in absolute awe…
Yeah…it was that amazing.
I’m going to leave it there.
The hike back down was tough. It’s 5,000 feet plus down (6,000 in these pix), and believe it or not, “down” can be harder than “up”. Once we hit town, we gobbled pizza and ice cream. We needed it. I lost 12 pounds on this trip! What a trip it was…
Quick notes:
It took me forever to write this post because I was striving for perfection. In the end, I decided I’d slap it together and forget perfection, but as you can imagine, with over 835 photos and this being the centerpiece of the trip, I wanted to do it to “right”. As noted above, if you want to see a bunch of raw, unedited, uncommented pix, go to EdgeProximity.com.
John is trying to convince me to go Grand Teton this summer for a little rock climbing (as opposed to “hiking”…which sure felt like climbing to me). I think I’m going to pass. The trek involves some 5.7 climbs which are no problem for guys like John, but hanging from a fingernail while looking down at a few thousand feet of “exposure” is not in my repertoire right now. “Jay, you might want to practice your pull ups!” Oh, and coming down on that particular climb requires two rappels…one over 120 feet.
Plus, we’ve got some new ideas in the works that might require my undivided attention come summertime, so I’m going to be forced to live vicariously through John on this one. Of course, when he comes home with great photos, I may well be “inspired”. Look what happened the last time he did that…