Half Dome 2012

About a year ago, my Uncle Tod told Rob and I about his trip to Yosemite National Park and his climb of Half Dome.  Rob and I had been to Yosemite with the family a couple of years ago and had seen Half Dome off looming in the distance and thought it would be fun to actually conquer the mountain.  When Tod let us know that he was putting a group together for this summer we eagerly threw our names in the hat.

Here's the group!!  It included my uncle Tod, his 3 sons, Drew, Ben, and Calvin,Tod's niece Angie, my uncle Wayne, and his kids, Josh and Chloe, and then 3 of Tod's friends, Sandy, Brandon, and Lou.  We had 2 guides for a total of 15 in our group.  We headed out about 7:30 on Thursday morning.

This is the first fall that we came to, Vernal Falls.  Take note of the stairs...yes that's the trail...up and up and more up...almost the never-ending stairmaster!

A little break while taking in Vernal Falls.

 Here is the base of the next fall, Nevada Falls.  

More stairs...up...up...up

Here's Rob, with the gorgeous view, at the top of Nevada falls.  After climbing close to 2,000 vertical feet we had lunch! :)

After lunch it was only about 45 more minutes of hiking until we came to this glorious swimming hole!!  We camped for the night at a camp site right next to this swimming hold called Little Yosemite Valley.  We got to the campground between 1 and 2, and so we had the afternoon to relax and swim before getting ready for our 3 am wake up call!

We were up and eating about 3 am and on the trail by 4 am.  We hiked all morning in the dark and reached the sub-dome of Half Dome just in time for this glorious sunrise!!  I must admit that I rarely am awake for the sunrise but the view was totally worth the early rise!!

Here we are on top of the sub-dome...we're about to get a peak at the cables that you scale in order to reach the top of Half Dome.  You'll notice we're still happy...I got REALLY nervous once I saw the cables.

Here they are!!  I wish the picture did them justice!!  The last 400 ft...after having climbed about 3,000 vertical feet that morning, is a steep climb up holding on to 2 steel cables for balance while your feet cling to little 2 x 4's that are placed in about 10 ft increments.     

Here we are, still happy before the climb!!

Here's Tod on the cables.  It gives you a little more perspective of the steepness of the route.

Rob, who is deathly afraid of heights, wasn't too excited about me standing out on a ledge that has a drop off just below it that is thousands of feet high!!

Here's the whole group at the top!!  

The descent down the cables may have been a little more nervous than the assent.  Rob wasn't very happy when he saw that I had taken a picture in the middle of the cables!

The perfect day to be out enjoying Yosemite!!

Here's part of the group after the 5,000 ft descent!!  I honestly think the descent was harder on the body than going up!!

Here is a beautiful view of Half Dome from Olmstead Point.  Rob and I pulled over to get one last look on our way out of the park.  What an amazing adventure and definitely one to put on the check list!