From JMT mile 6.5 to 10.3 Total: 8.9 miles hiked 7/31
On the second day of my John Muir Trail trek, I summited Half Dome, one of the coolest climbs in Yosemite National Park. I’m not gonna lie: It was awesome in every way!
I woke up early, at 4am, and started getting ready for the climb. I ate breakfast, got dressed, and packed up all of my heavy gear. My plan was to leave it inside the tent while I dayhiked up to the summit. I would finish packing later on, when I got back. For now, I was carrying what’s known as a “slackpack” which only contained water, some snack, and the ten essentials. It weighed almost nothing compared to the load I carried up here yesterday. I planned to hike both light and fast.
I donned my trusty Slackpack and headed down to the trail junction. Bob’s tent was nearby. I walked over and found him still busy getting ready. I was a few minutes early, but I was also anxious to get hiking, because it was still cool out there. I told him that I’d see him up at the cables in an hour or so, and wished him well. I didn’t know him very well, after all. Not yet, anyway.
And then I hustled off, reversing direction on the JMT for a half mile, northbound to the Half Dome Trail junction. On the way, I got great views of Half Dome, as well as the Sub Dome, which was the rounded bump on its northeast ridge. I’d been up there twice before. First the trail climbed up the bump, then the famous cables led to the top.
At the junction, I was at 7000 feet elevation. The summit was at 8839 feet. And it was only two miles away. Half that gain took place over the final half mile, which was insanely steep for a trail. But that meant that the first mile and a half would be mellow. So I hustled on. Yes, I was breathing hard once I got going, but it wasn’t any worse than yesterday’s climb up from the valley. I got to see Half Dome in profile, which always looks like an eagle to me, at least near the top.
In less than an hour I was at the foot of the Sub Dome. This was where the Park Ranger was supposed to be, checking my Half Dome Permit, which I had on my phone. But maybe I was too early. All I got to see were the Warning Signs. Some were about the permits, and others were about lightning. I looked around. There were absolutely no clouds to worry about.
I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders, and began to climb the Sub Dome. I had forgotten about this part of the trail; it had been eclipsed in my memory by the coolness of the cables. But now that I was here, I was amazed at the quality and difficulty of the trail’s construction. This dome was steep! The builders literally chopped the trail into existence. There were short switchbacks, stones pinned down with steel rods that had been drilled into the bedrock, and steps that were carved and chunked out with picks. Did I say it was steep? It was steep!
I arrived at the Sub Dome at 7:30am. The sign was correct in that it took me about 30 minutes to get here. I took a short break and spoke with some of the “Dawn” hikers, who already returned from the top. Some people find it romantic to be there for sunrise. I’ve enjoyed night-hiking with others, but when the surrounding views are this good, it makes no sense not to see them. Take my advice: Save night hiking for flatter trails, or keep it within the forest. But to each their own. I watched several of the Dawn Patrol descending the cables. I decided to wait for them to finish.
The cables used to be extremely crowded, back in the 80’s and 00’s when I last visited. A short time later, the park made a scientifically flawed study of the crowding in order to be sure that they reached their predetermined conclusion: That the crowding increased the danger and that permits were needed in order to address it. They had no numbers to back them up, only cherry-picked photographs of hikers climbing on the outside of the cables to bypass slower climbers. Some people who attempt this climb are catatonic with fear of heights and block all forward motion, or are so out of shape (or air) that they have to stop and breathe for minutes at a time, such that the only way to pass them is on the outside. I did this myself, both times, and here I am today. As are thousands and thousands of others. If they were truly worried about danger they would ban all hiking in the park, everywhere. These cables are inherently dangerous. That’s why I was climbing them! The thrill of it, the adrenaline rush, the killer views. Almost every year someone loses their grip and falls to their death. This is sad. But they opted to come here, of their own free will. We all take our chances on this planet. If you’re worried, bring a climbing harness and two clips, and you won’t be able to fall. You don’t need a permit to own a harness. Or a flawed “scientific” study.
Then it was time for me to start climbing. And I had the Half Dome Cables completely to myself! This was unheard of. Just imagine how safe I felt! But I will admit to feeling great about it. I put on my gloves and got out my GoPro camera. It had a lanyard around my wrist so I wouldn’t lose it. I kept my phone (mostly) in my pocket. It was Go Time.
At first the slope was, well, not exactly mellow, but it wasn’t too bad. I was hiking upward, one hand on each cable. There were two by fours attached to the posts every ten feet or so which made pausing to catch your breath a bit easier. It didn’t take long before I was taking very small steps, indeed. And I was breathing much harder than I expected. I think I may finally be getting old, now that I’m 67. When I was 23, I literally ran half way up the cables, just for fun! Not now. I felt like an old geezer, albeit a very tough one. As you might expect, I used some of my mini-rests to take more photos and videos. That’s what I do, after all. I only include a few here, and it is probably too many. It’s my story, after all, so I get to decide.
It felt like the slope was close to 45 degrees at its worst, and then after the inflection point it began backing off. I also felt that the past thirty years had led to more boot-rubber being smeared onto the granite face. It was less rough than the original stone, and it felt like I had less traction. Maybe it was my modern hiking shoes instead of my monster Vibram Waffle-Stomper boots of yore. But I wasn’t worried. As long as I maintained a good grip on the cable with at least one hand, I was solid and safe.
It took me a bit over thirty minutes to climb the cables. It felt like longer. But I wasn’t about to quit. I kept on taking short breaks for breathing, to let my heart rate get back down to a non-fatal level. Theoretical Max Heart Rate is 220 minus your age. So when I was 23 I could whip it up into the 190’s! Now I was in the Danger Zone above 140, and 140 was easy to do. I’ve gotten mine higher than the theoretical maximum a few times, but it isn’t a good idea. Everybody is different, and it’s only a General Rule type of formula.
Eventually, I made it to the top of the cables. From there it was an easy walk to the summit, as Half Dome was very broad on top. The views were tremendous, and I was seriously stoked to be up here. I headed for the top of the main cliff-face in order to look straight down to Yosemite Valley, 4800 feet below.
Panorama video from a point in the middle of the summit of Half Dome
There were still half a dozen hikers hanging out up there. The lingering Sunrise Crowd. I took a photo of the iconic “lip” or overhang, then got one of the others to take my photo while I stood on top of it, sudden death a step or a stumble away. I’m surprised the park didn’t install handrails up here. For safety! Maybe I should do a scientific study…
I hung out on top for a while, and ate a couple of Skittles for snack. I wasn’t all that hungry. Some hikers arrived while others departed, but it certainly wasn’t crowded. That would happen later when the bulk of the day-hikers arrived from the valley.
I remembered the last time I was here, with my son and his scout troop. We camped down in Little Yosemite Valley for two nights and spent a day climbing up here. While we all hung out, taking pictures with a film camera, a big dark cloud began to form to the south. It seemed to be drifting in our direction. Oh boy. That’s what the signs had warned us about. But it wasn’t here yet, so no worries. Then we heard a blast of thunder. Worries began in earnest. The troop leader yelled out “Everybody off the mountain!” and suddenly there was a mass exodus. Everyone grabbed their stuff and headed for the cables. It was insanely crowded. It didn’t help that some hikers were still climbing, and refused to quit. Humans are funny that way. As an actual scientist, I decided that holding onto a steel cable (i.e. lightning rod) on top of an exposed mountain in a thunderstorm was truly asking for trouble. I didn’t need a study to tell me this. Neither did anyone else. We all behaved scientifically, and headed down as fast as we could. This wasn’t fast enough for me. Let’s be honest: Very few people are ever fast enough for me! A couple flashes of lightning and roars of thunder later, followed by the inevitable rain, made up my mind. Big drops came down, lots of them, with a couple of hailstones thrown in. Typical afternoon weather in Yosemite National Park. I gave up on waiting for the slow people, so I ducked under the cable and stood on the outside. There was absolutely nobody in my way now! So down I went, hand over hand, grabbing the cables for dear life, saying “Excuse me, coming through, excuse me please” all the way down to the bottom. My loud Excuse Me’s prevented anyone from getting surprised and accidently breaking my grip, or me break ing theirs. I think they all paused because they couldn’t believe I was actually doing this. Anyway, it worked! I was the first one down. I stepped away from the cables and got out my raingear. I was getting cold. But I survived to tell this tale, and so did everyone else. Lightning on Half Dome! Excellent! I wouldn’t have had it happen any other way.
But there would be no lightning today; there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I headed back to the cables. I still had to return to my tent and hike a few miles further today. It was already almost 9am. Time to move on. Once I was at the cables, I started down, holding on, facing forward. This direction of travel turned out to be unwise. Once it started getting steeper I felt like I was about to tumble headlong down the slope. My muscles weren’t strong enough, either. As soon as I turned around, everything was better. It got steep enough that it was more like descending a ladder, where you always face uphill. Gravity was on my side, however, and I didn’t have to rest.
Along the way down, I met Bob coming up. He was wearing a climbing harness, and using two straps with carabiners on the ends, clipping them onto the right-hand cable. He was 100% safe! But it took longer, as you had to re-attach each tether alternately as the cable passed over a support post. He told me that he had to promise his family that he would wear this thing, and so he did, being a man of his word. I felt lucky that nobody in my family even thought of this idea, let alone asked me to do it. I would have said no, using the weight of the harness in my already-too-heavy backpack as an excuse. I’d already survived this thing twice, after all. This wasn’t my First Rodeo, in other words.
Just the same, it was a relief to finally let go of the cable at the bottom. My hands and arms were a bit tired, and the stone underfoot was slicker than I expected. My foot only slipped a time or two, but even once was more than I liked.
After that, the rest of the way down was easy. Even the steep steps on the Sub Dome. Downhill is always easier. Interestingly, when I got back to the warning signs, there was no Ranger to be found. I wasn’t sure why. Maybe the new administration cut back on the park’s budget, or maybe they only had one ranger for this job and they needed a day or two off each week. But with a $280 fine, I could understand why people without permits didn’t want to try it. But now I’m thinking that maybe paying $280 to climb Half Dome wasn’t too expensive, considering the enjoyment I had. I’ve paid more for other one-time experiences. And everyone knows that fines are designed to threaten poor people; rich people can do whatever they want and not care (as much). I’m still glad I had a permit, though, as I’m not all that rich. Indeed, if I hadn’t gotten the permit my plan for today was to climb Clouds Rest instead. I’ve been there, and it’s a great consolation prize.
After a final few looks back at Half Dome, I arrived at Clouds Rest Junction and climbed the hill to my tent. It was sitting there, roasting in the hot sunshine. So I opened the zipper, tossed my heavy gear into the shade, then rolled up the tent as fast as possible before I sweated to death. I decided to get out my solar charger, as well. I hooked it up to a small 5000 mAh battery that I partially depleted last night charging my phone. Then I attached it to my backpack. I walked down the hill to the JMT and stopped to filter a couple extra liters of water. That would be enough to get me to camp later on.
Finally, I was ready to continue on my John Muir Trail trek. Half Dome was only a Side Quest, and the Main Quest was beckoning me onward.
Sadly, within a mile, the trail entered a region of burnt trees. Blackened trunks rose above fields of fireweed and a nasty, impenetrable thicket of Buckthorn (also called Whitethorn). I was glad I was wearing long pants through there, even though it was roasting hot. These trees burned back in 2014, over ten years ago, in the Meadow Fire.
It didn’t take long before Chris caught up to me. He was camped within a hundred feet of me last night, and he also climbed Half Dome this morning. We were both solo hikers, so it was good to talk with someone for a while. He was a young guy, and told me that he just broke up with a long term girlfriend and also lost his job. That’s tough! But at least he was doing something with his newfound freedom. I don’t think he was “finding himself” as so many people love to say. It was more like he needed to reassess his priorities and direction, and hiking two hundred miles was a great way to do some serious thinking and soul-searching. My situation was a whole lot different: I was getting old, and I wanted to hike everywhere I could before it was too late. I wished Chris luck, and told him that maybe he’d meet up with a nice girl on the trail, but he shouldn’t count on it. And once he got a new job the boss wouldn’t let him take three weeks off anytime soon, so this was his big chance.
By this time I was feeling a bit tired. I checked the elevation profile and water availability on the Far Out app, and it didn’t look too good. The place I wanted to camp was up near the Sunrise High Sierra Camp, but they were closed this season, and the meadow water was iffy. Plus, the final mile of JMT was extra-steep on the way there. The place up ahead, at mile 10.3, had water in the creek and a few tent sites. I told Chris that I’d see him tomorrow at Tuolumne Meadows, because I was whupped right now. I would make up that extra mile in the morning.
It was only 3pm, but I didn’t care. Nine hours of hiking in one day was plenty. It was nice and shady, and the water was fine. I filtered enough for dinner, breakfast, and tomorrow’s hike. I set up camp under the trees. Then I chilled in the tent for a while. I read my book on the kindle. I took a short nap. A few people hiked past, but they didn’t even see me in my olive green tent. After the awesomeness of Half Dome, it was pleasant to simply relax. Then I cooked my ramen noodle dinner and ate it while sitting on the air mattress in my tent. Total comfort. As the sun got lower the air cooled off, and I put on my Night Clothes. I stuck my legs in the sleeping bag and read my book in peace, warm and cozy in my little hideaway in the forest.
While I was laying there I heard some hikers. It was late enough that I figured they’d probably stop here. And of course they did. My tent door was zipped shut, so I said “Hello?” and they answered. I recognized one of the voices. “Bob? That’s Bob, isn’t it?” Yes, it was. I apologized for not getting out of bed, but at least I opened the zipper door and poked my head outside. He told me that he summited Half Dome, then met Keith on his way here. This was Keith’s first day on the JMT and he hiked over ten miles plus 4500 feet of climbing! He told me that he had a Half Dome permit, but didn’t bother to climb it due to time and food constraints. Sad but true. I didn’t do much else, being stuck in bed, so I let them get on with setting up camp.
I had no idea at the time that I was going to end up hiking many, many miles with these two guys. But that’s all in the future. Right then it was time for me to go to sleep.
For a topographic map of the hike see my CalTopo Page
For LOTS more photos of the trek see my Flickr Page
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