I just got back from an 8-day camping trip in Yosemite Valley with my wife and various other friends & family. This would be the first trip back to Yosemite for my wife and me since our honeymoon there last November.
Sadly, my annual pass ran out in April, so I forked over $60 for a new one (still a bargain).
The first hike of the trip consisted of many of the adults and children hiking parts of the Mist Trail. I decided that I'd rather visit Sierra Point http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?1,8448 with my wife and a friend.
We parted ways with the rest of the group at the sign for the rock piles and were off. We made it there with only a few minor detours. The views were amazing
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We were lucky enough to get a permit to hike Half Dome on Tuesday. I had done it 20 years ago in college, but this would be the first for my wife. We had been training for it over the past few months, and were disappointed when we failed to get our permit in the general lottery.
We started our hike at 5:55 am and hiked the JMT up past the falls.
We felt great and made it to the sub dome with no real issues, other than fixing a few hot spots on our feet before they grew into something worse.
The cables were fairly crowded, which forced us to go at a slow pace which was just fine with me as I was using that as an excuse to catch my breath.
Once at the top, we had lunch, and took some obligatory photos from the top,
and recreated a photo I took 20 years ago.
The hike back down was not as easy as the hike up. My wife's feet finally got the best of her, and slowed her to almost a crawl. That, and an asthma attack didn't help (thank god for the rescue inhaler).
As the sun was setting lower on the horizon, and our pace slowed to try to minimize the pain on her feet, I decided to take the Mist Trail down and save a mile or so.
The hike past Nevada Falls was not too bad,
it was just when we crossed the foot bridge above Vernal Falls that we needed to pull out the headlamps and finish the hike in the dark.
My wife will attest that the Mist Trail below Vernal Falls in the dark with only a headlamp is pretty creepy. We were both relieved to make it past those steps and to the bridge below Vernal Falls.
Thankfully, my friend was waiting at the trail head with his car and pizza for us at 10:51. That was a welcome sight after 17 hours on the trail!
We allowed a few days to let our feet heal a bit before we drove to TM and had a nice little hike to Elizabeth Lake and Unicorn Peak.
In the end, it was a nice and relaxing trip with just enough adventure to make it exciting and have a few stories to tell over many years to come.