TREK RECAP: HALF DOME via THE MIST TRAIL
CLAIM TO FAIM: MOST ICONIC LANDMARK IN YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK. THIS IS THE REAL LIFE NORTH FACE LOGO.
Date: Monday, September 9th 2019
Location: Yosemite National Park
Distance: 16 miles (total)
Tallest Elevation: 8,839 ft.
Elevation Gain: 5000+ ft.
Start Time: 5:30am ——— End Time: 9:30pm
BACKSTORY: Three days prior to our summit attempt, a 29 year old woman fell 500 feet to her death as she was descending the Half Dome cables. It was all over the national news and definitely set our group on high alert to be extra cautious on our upcoming journey through Yosemite National Park.
THE MIST TRAIL: With much anticipation and excitement, our crew of seven left Curry Village (formerly Half Dome Village) at 5:30am to embark on our Half Dome adventure via the Mist Trail. Trekking through the dark with our headlamps on is an experience on it’s own and we knew that it was going to be one long adventure of a day. As we arrived at the bridge base of the first waterfall, daylight started to descend upon the top of the surrounding mountains and our first challenge was in sight - overcoming the granite staircases to the top of Vernal Fall. After tons of huffing and puffing from our group while admiring the beauty of the falls, we arrived at the top. All my training at the Culver City stairs prepped my body well for this section. We all took a 20 minute break to snack and rest our legs while admiring a Blue Jay hopping around on the tree next to us. Next up was overcoming another giant staircase to the top of Nevada Fall.
It was on this second outdoor staircase that I decided to use my hiking poles to help alleviate pressure from my legs (using the poles gives you both an upper and lower body workout and is recommended to use especially on long treks such as this). Trekking up this section was beautiful as Nevada falls is an even more impressive cascade than its predecessor. What I love about this portion is that the Liberty Cap dome which is a granite masterpiece towering above looks so magnificent making one feel insignificant. We made it to the top of Nevada Falls at 8:30am and took another break to refuel. This area was the last water source so I took my mini Sawyer and filtered an extra 1L of water from the Merced River. The sun was beaming now and everyone was rocking their hats with sunglasses look.
LITTLE YOSEMITE VALLEY: Our body’s very much welcomed this section of the hike after climbing so many relentless staircases next to the falls. Little Yosemite Valley has many flat sections and a few long inclines approaching Sub Dome but nothing too serious. It was during this portion that one of our members started cramping. Some important tips that one can do if you happen to be prone to cramping are: 1) Hydrating well 1-2 days before the hike and especially before you start the trail. 2) Hiking poles - I noticed people usually start cramping when they do long steep sections. Poles alleviate tons of pressure off your legs and transfer it to your arms. 3) Bananas and oranges to fight off the build up of lactic acid. 4) Mustard...this will be explained more later.
Our group during this stretch ended up being split into three groups because of different people’s paces and what not. Regardless, we all enjoyed the scenery of the forest as much as possible knowing the challenge that lay ahead of us. After trekking for about 8 miles, we arrived at the base of Sub-Dome.
SUB DOME: It is here where our group had to check in with the ranger and show our permits in order to proceed further. After our whole group arrived, the ranger checked us in and briefed us and other groups about the dangers and the pre-cautions that we must take going up the Sub Dome and the infamous cables section. He ended his brief asking all of us if we knew what happened recently and one person said “No! What happened??” The ranger proceeded to mention that a hiker 3 days ago died on the cables because she had a panic attack and slipped to her death descending down. And with that being said, we all just looked at each other and took a deep breath. If that wasn’t enough, right as we started the beginning section another hiker just fell down the last portion of the Sub-Dome and was severely gashed up bleeding from his arms and legs. I watched as the ranger patched him up and off we all went. The trek up the Sub Dome is gorgeous, epic, exhausting, and precarious. You are literally just hiking up a dome with stairs carved into the side with sheer drop offs on each side. Halfway up the Sub Dome there is no longer an established pathway/trail and you literally just have to trek up the middle portion and not stray to far left or right. Some people actually argue that this section can be harder than the cables depending on the individual. As we approached the top we could see the notorious Half Dome Cables section peaking out from the distance. It was insane looking as we could see people stuck on the cables because of the traffic of people going up and down - they all looked like tiny ants. So we finally arrived at the moment we were all nervous yet excited about. We were officially at the base of the Half Dome cables at 1pm.
HALF DOME CABLES: This last 500 feet climb to the summit is a jaw dropping sight to see. It looked way steeper than I thought it would be and we would soon find out that it truly was. If you decide to go up the cables, it is highly recommended that you have gloves on (the $2 latex gloves from your local hardware store work great). We took about 10-15 minutes to gather ourselves and take photos. One of our members had done the cables before and he was monitoring the traffic going up. Out of the blue he said “Right now is the best time to go, we should go now” and that caught me off guard so I quickly packed all my stuff in and setup the GoPro on my head. As we started our way up, I looked up and locked in with laser focus. You can either stick to one side to pull yourself up or use both sides of the cables. I chose to use both sides of the cables as that worked best for me. So since we arrived after 12pm, there was a good amount of people on the climb up creating traffic: people coming down and people going up which makes the cable section even more nerve racking than it already was. The good thing was that everyone was very patient and encouraging with each other understanding the imminent danger that could happen with a minor slip. The incline is intense but doable. We were going up 55 degree+ angles and the granite is slippery even when dry. As we trekked up and up, there were wooden planks every 10 feet to rest and re-gather energy. The middle section is the steepest part of the climb and this is where some precarious moments happened. I was wondering why no one was going up anymore and I noticed that one of our members was sitting down on the wooden plank, he was cramping up and our friend had to massage his calf in hopes that it would help him. Then at this very moment I just heard a loud constant, clanking sound and someone’s metal water bottle fell from the top all the way down the side of the mountain. I just wanted to get to the top at this point but we had to make sure our friend was okay. After a few minutes, he got up and was able to go up further and then he cramped up again. I believe we were ¾ up the cables at this point. We were extremely patient because we wanted to make sure he was safe and then the most random thing happened. The guy behind me said that he had mustard and that it would help immediately for his cramps and that he has used it in Spartan races. Myself and some other group members just looked at each other bewildered wondering if this guy was trolling or something. Anyways, we took his word for it and I grabbed this mustard container and handed it to our friend and he squirted a bunch of it in his mouth, what a ridiculous moment. After 2 minutes, it worked and we finished the rest of the climb up in relief.
SUMMIT: Our whole group got up to the summit safely at 1:45pm and it was incredible. The summit is massive and it feels like you are walking on a barren planet. We found a spot right in the middle to post up and we began to devour all our sandwiches and snacks. Soon after, a majority of the group decided to take a disco nap to rejuvenate themselves from the tiring climb. I began to explore around the edges to find some good photo opps. I couldn’t believe it, we were on top of the real life North Face logo! I stared in amazement at not only how high we were but just the dramatic scenery surrounding us. I could see El Capitan in the distance which Alex Honnold from the documentary “Free Solo” climbed up with no gear. Finally some of the group walked over to where I was after their naps and we all started taking super epic photos of each other. We stayed at the summit for about 1.5 hours soaking it all in. There was marmots and ravens roaming around the top which was amusing to me.
THE DESCENT: At 3:30pm we knew it was time. What goes up the mountain must come down - and down those same cables. For most, it is harder to go down due to the steep nature of the cables and that you are facing down to you potential death. It is because of this that most people go down backwards. I instead faced forward because the view was too breathtaking to not look at. As I mentioned before, granite is slippery even when dry (these section should never be attempted if there is rain or even a mist). I used alot of core and small steps to maneuver down safely. It was quite the experience watching everyone go down and just the views all around. We also took our time going down the Sub Dome as our legs were already exhausted. Finally when we got back to the base where the ranger was we took another rest. We had 8 miles more to get back to the trailhead. Since we reached the summit pretty late, we ended up hiking down the Mist Trail in the dark with our headlamps on for 2-3 hours. Most of us were completely exhausted, feet feeling like they were going to fall off, people’s knees hurting badly, dehydration, and so forth. Going back down the giant staircases while the waterfalls were clashing in the dark was an eerie experience in itself. The water sounded so evil like it wanted to drown us. We eventually got back down to the base bridge of Vernal fall and I will never forget how beautiful the moon looked with the towering domes above us. After what literally felt like eternity (I thought my feet were going to fall off), we reached our cars at 9:30pm. We were on the mountain for a total of 16 hours. This was one for the books and was for alot of our group the hardest and scariest thing they have ever done in their lives. We all survived and thrived.