I had a last minute chance to hop in with some friends from work and head to Yosemite to hike Half Dome. I’ve always wanted to go, and I jumped at the chance. It was a whirlwind trip lasting just 46 hours. We left at 5:30 am Sunday and were back at 3:30 am on Tuesday morning. Unfortunately, there was a fire that broke out near Yosemite that blew quite a bit of smoke in the valley. Fortunately, this kept quite a few people away and the crowds were much lower than normal.

Merced river

El Capitan. This was fun to see in person after watching Alex Honnold climb it in Free Solo.

We stayed in Curry Village. These were the type of tents we stayed in. Not too bad.

Monday morning, start of the hike. The moon was rising over Half Dome.

This was the most manicured trail I’ve ever seen. Where else do you have granite steps like this. And it was like this for a lot of the way!

Vernal Falls

Nevada Falls

There it is! Half Dome.

The cables!

I took a careful look over the edge at the 1800 foot cliff and 4000 foot drop off to the valley floor. I think the picture makes me more woozy than actually being there.

On the visor. Again, approached with extreme caution.

Nevada falls from the John Muir tail side on the way down.

Then the long drive back home. What an awesome trip! Thank you Kathryn for you support and letting me go on this great adventure.