Hiking the Half Dome

One of the downsides of being the fifth child is that the family has already done all the cool stuff by the time you roll around. I never went to Yosemite and I never visited Disneyland or Yellowstone.

Since I was travelling down to California to hike the John Muir Trail starting at Tuolomne Meadows I thought I’d take the chance to hike the Half Dome and then snake my way to the meadow via a side trail that joined up with the JMT at Sunrise Lakes.

I had booked the cables of the half dome for the 10th and after a long drive down from Washington, I arrived with hiking buddy Adam (www.hikingthetrail.com) the night of the 9th. I realized very quickly that there’s only one Yosemite.

The next morning I hiked through the uniqueness of the Yosemite Valley and made my way up the Mist Trail and up to the junction to the Half Dome. I had gotten up early enough to miss most of the crowds and had the trail pretty much to myself until I hit the final 2 mile climb to the Half Dome cables.

I don’t know what I expected, but whoever decided to put those cables up there was a bit crazy. I’m glad he did. The 16 mile round trip is definitely worth it. The views on the way and at the top shouldn’t be missed.

Take a look at the video below for the Full HD experience of my adventure. Also, stay tuned on Monday for Day 2 of the Pre-trip.