Although I had been car camping a few times and done a bit of mountain biking, I really wasn’t a hiker and had never been to Yosemite. I did love to explore though, and one of my best friends convinced me to hike Half Dome once he was done with his summer job on the road.
I think someone at his college gave a presentation on the hike and planted the seed in his head. I believe this was the first mention of our impending trip:
He borrowed a bunch of gear from his aunt and I brought my cotton clothes and my heavy Coleman sleeping bag:
It was his trip so I left all the planning up to him. We picked up a permit at the Big Oak Flat ranger station on the afternoon of August 19th, to enter Mono Meadow with the stipulation that we couldn’t camp in LYV the first night.
Our permit, which I have kept all these years:
We began our hike and stopped for a rest and photo in Mono Meadow:
We ended up crossing Illiloutte Creek and setting up camp just on the other side. Looking back, I think our campsite was too close to the water, but we were noobs (check out the cut off sweats for hiking shorts) and I’ve learned better now.
When I went back a couple years ago to fish Illiloutte I tried to find the actual campsite, but the preceding 20 years changed things enough with flood and fire that the actual spot was no longer flat and the two fallen trees were gone.
I really enjoy camp photos like this because I can see little details that remind me of the trip, like the orange water bag hanging on the branch and those things remind me of other things.
We chatted and hiked and I remember being very impressed by the views once we joined up with the Panorama Trail.
Of course we stopped at Nevada Fall for photos and lunch.
And then we continued our hike, still feeling good:
Taking time to get photos along the river apparently:
We set up camp, still in high spirits and goofing off:
And then the climb began, and I remember seeing this through the trees and wondering if that was where we were headed. I had never been to Yosemite and don’t recall seeing Half Dome as we drove down Big Oak Flat road to the valley (we must have but I don’t remember), so I don’t know that I even knew what “Half Dome” was or what it looked like from the “front”.
The cables were a sobering sight:
No quotas back then, and no crowds either.
I was very impressed by the cables and took lots of photos:
We grabbed some used gloves from the pile and headed up. When it started to get really steep, my friend paused and looked back at me and said “What do you think? Should we keep going?” I was nervous but muttered something about regretting it if we didn’t keep going, so we continued and before too long:
I recall feeling like I was literally on top of the world:
And arguably, my first real look at Yosemite Valley came from the top of Half Dome.
From that point, the photos definitely become few and far between as we were tired and thirsty, having hiked from Illiloutte that morning and having only one canteen each for the climb up Half Dome. As I mentioned before, I’ve learned a lot since then.
I remember being miserable the last part of the hike back to camp, and dreading the extra effort that it would take to walk to the river to filter water. We hardly talked that evening because we were exhausted and ate our dinner half cooked just so we could get to bed quicker.
I slept the sleep of the dead that night.
The next morning I was stiffer and sorer than I had ever been in my life and wondered if I’d even be able to hike out. But as our muscles warmed up the stiffness and soreness disappeared (only to reappear when we’d stop to rest) and we made it back to the car about 48hrs after our hike began.
I do find it ironic that I climbed Half Dome on my very first trip to Yosemite and didn’t really see the Valley itself other than Bridalveil Falls and what I saw from the car window as we drove to the El Capitan bridge to begin our drive home. I don’t even think we drove into the valley to see what we had climbed, I don’t know that we knew we could.
As I mentioned earlier, I returned to Illilouette a couple years ago and recognized two locations from the 1993 trip.
Me crossing a creek in 1993, note the rock in the background:
My friend sitting at Illilouette Creek at the trail junction in 1993:
It was truly one of the greatest trips of my life and started my continued interest in Yosemite, hiking and backpacking; which really got underway a few years later when my future wife and I visited in 1997, just after the park reopened after the floods. I hope you enjoyed reading the "way, way back" report.
Seriously, though, Jason...this was a really cool read...in no small part because it is from so long ago. Thanks for taking the time to write this up!
