The Half Dome cables were of course down for the season.
Vernal Fall had a decent amount of water--although most was probably from the recent light dusting of snow, not a harbinger of a heavy spring runoff.
While JKW continued along the trail towards Half Dome, the Great Pink One and I squeezed between Liberty Cap and Mt. Broderick.
The well-trod route was mostly easy to follow and was tricky in only a few places.
The scoured walls of the presently dry narrow canyon revealed both how much of an impact the glaciers of past ages could make, and how resilient the granite they squeezed between could be.
We met up with JKW in Little Yosemite Valley and enjoyed lunch before continuing up the trail.
For the record, the Half Dome cables were down for the season.
No trip would be complete without daleing around some abandoned trails--this one an older, but in no way inferior--alignment of the Half Dome trail.
In fact, it had one advantage over the present trail: it crossed the small watercourse below the mapped spring where there was a trickle of water--this would be the only running water we would see other than Sunrise Creek and the Merced River. It took awhile to fill my water bottle, but it was almost dry--I hadn't been able to fill up since the top of Vernal Falls.
We met up with JKW yet again past the Clouds Rest/JMT junction and continued up the trail, soon encountering scattered patches of shallow snow--all from the recent storms. To the northeast we could see Clouds Rest, Quarter Domes, and 1/8th or 1/16th Dome (depending on who you ask).
As we wound up to the base of the Half Dome subdome, we all were running out of steam, and were relieved when we were presented with good camping opportunities.
In fact, I had come down with a bit of a cold and was quite ready to stop for the day. Soon all our gear was scattered across a slab-with-a-view and we started melting whatever meager snow we could find.
Some people may like those wooded campsites with large logs surrounding a sooty campfire ring, but for us, it's all about clean granite and expansive views.
Behind us, Half Dome had just a dusting of snow.
The sun eventually sat over El Capitan... but that's a story for the next night.
After a bit of a restless, congested, but otherwise warm and pleasant night's sleep, I woke up, and soon we were preparing breakfast and sorting gear for a day trip up Half Dome. Eventually, with light packs and lunch, we started up the subdome's recently-improved steps and switchbacks.
Note: the cables were down. For the season.
JKW and I hadn't been up Half Dome since our first--and only--trip decades ago. It was entirely different to be on the trail without the usual crowds.
Soon we reached the base of the cables, which were down for the season. We had in fact brought some gear to allow for a safe ascent, and after putting on our harnesses and practicing our Prusiks, we were on our way up the dome.
What probably took the most time ascending was the need to re-rig the Prusiks several times due to the use of multiple cables and stabilizing loops (PRO TIP: bring enough gear to hitch two Prusiks per person...) However, we soon reached the summit and declared victory.
We stopped for the usual Half Dome photos...
...and checked out the usual places.
We saw only three other people the entire time we were on the summit--which was quite awhile, since we decided to walk down the Snake Dike a bit.
We ended up going down almost 400', following the rugged dikes on Half Dome. In other places, the glaciers polish the rock so that the dikes or inclusions are flat with the rest of the granite, but Half Dome was above most of the glacial activity, so the differences in weathering between the granite and the dikes is more apparent.
There is no obvious place where you have gone too far, but eventually we reached a point where going back up seemed to make the most sense.
It was a bit of a climb, after which we stopped for lunch on the visor.
The other three people on the summit had left. We had Half Dome to ourselves. Due to the lack of running water anywhere--and the fear that I'd run out of fuel melting snow--I scavenged water from several small potholes on the dome.
Well, almost to ourselves...
The trip down was a bit tedious only in the need to re-rig the Prusiks every few minute--but better safe than not.
The way down is impressively steep, but in fact having the cables "down" helped a bit with traction in that the weight of the heavy cables pushed us against the rock, improving grip. This would of course not be the case in a normal cables-down winter since there would be ice or snow along the way...
At the base of the cables I scavenged more water from small potholes, eventually ending up with three liters of buggy water. After returning to our campsite and packing all our gear, we headed to the next night's destination: 1/16th dome. Or 1/8th dome. Potato, potato.
In any event, it was a nice walk from our campsite, with just a few larger fallen trees to work our way around.
Our "dome"--really a small flat section of granite jutting out over Tenaya Canyon--had great views of the vertical faces of the Quarter Domes.
Since our little dome was much smaller than half of either of the Quarter Domes, 1/16 seems to make more sense...
From our narrow and somewhat exposed perch we had excellent views into Tenaya Canyon.
Despite it still being winter--at least on the calendar--it was downright hot as we hung out for the afternoon at our camp. However, since my cold was still present, the rest was most welcome.
As the sun sat we could make out our shadows on the face of the Quarter Dome.
Abstract selfie
We were treated to another wonderful sunset.
Our friends who had first met at the top of Forester Pass in '08 had decided to hike to the top of El Cap, from where we received good news via radio.
The good tidings: they had (finally!) decided to get hitched. We of course congratulated them--and had even brought some wine so we could toast them.
A few pictures from that trip:
it's like they don't even see each other... yet.
...and their first steps together on what will hopefully be a long, wonderful and beautiful adventure together.
Best wishes on their journey ahead!
E was wearing Crocs, by the way, and would finish the JMT with them.
The evening was very mild, and we were even treated to a few hours of wonderful darkness before the moon blasted light at us.
However, the near-full moon did allow us to experience the vistas around us... all night long.
We had enjoyed another mild night. After waking up and mentally adjusting our clocks, we packed up and headed up to the Quarter Domes.
We were greeted with another warm, clear day. Winter?
After exploring the various erratics and other rock formations on the domes, we started our long descent to Happy Isles.
We eschewed the trail in favor of a more open route...
...one with a few oddities along the way.
We stopped for lunch on a dome overlooking Little Yosemite Valley, where we could see the scars from the recent Meadow Fire.
After that, we shot down the trail. JKW and I decided to take the knee-preserving JMT, while the pink bird flew down the Mist Trail. On Ice Cut, we found the only significant ice we encountered on the entire trip.
The rest of the descent to Happy Isles was uneventful.
We met up with E and A in person at the Foresta/OBOFRT trailhead and were able to congratulate them in person. After chatting with them a bit, we met up with the pink bird at a turnout looking for another boundary marker. I helped with a few "bonus coverage" scavenger hunts--striking out completely on one, and finding the section corner that should have been near the other--unfortunately, it was in an old roadbed that post-dated the 1905 survey, so the original marker is probably lost to history.
More Pictures
