The Adventures of...: Days 68-69

Day 68, 5 miles, endpoint Glacier Point, Yosemite National Park

We woke up this morning to steady rain. It was a gloomy, gray, misty, chilly, Oregon kind of day. We packed up under a tree to avoid the rain as much as possible, threw on our rain gear, and left the backpackers camp intent on hiking out of the park. We took the shuttle to a trailhead for the Four Mile Trail, which led to a lookout called Glacier Point we wanted to see before we left. The Four Mile Trail was aptly named when it was originally constructed over 100 years ago, and was indeed four miles long. Since then, the steep trail has been improved and the uphills flattened out in parts, making the trail somewhere in the range of 4.6-4.8 miles long today.

The trail went straight from the valley floor up along the cliffs Yosemite is famous for. It was a relentless uphill the entire way as we went up a couple thousand feet. The air was moody, with a mix of high clouds, fog, partial fog, and sprinkles, depending on where we were.

Finally we emerged at Glacier Point, which offered views of Half Dome, Nevada Falls, Vernal Falls, and pretty much every peak and valley in the park. The view was so good that, even though it was only early afternoon and we planned on hiking more, we decided to stay for sunset.

After an amazing pink sky-filled sunset, we heard there was going to be a star talk. Josh loves stars and constellations, so of course we had to stay for that. The next thing we knew, it was after 10pm, dark, and we had nowhere to camp. We decided to just camp right there at Glacier Point and get an early start the next day. For only the second time this trip, we cowboy camped and didn't set up the tent. Instead, we threw our tyvec groundsheet down on the outdoor amphitheater floor, set up the air pads, and slept right there at Glacier Point.

Woody!

Yosemite Valley

Trail views.

Trail views

Half Dome from Glacier Piont

More Glacier Point views.

Half Dome and Cloud's Rest

Sunset from Glacier Point.

Day 69, 20 miles, endpoint 10 miles off the PCT on the John Muir Trail

We got up at 4:30am from our spot on Glacier Point to be sure we were packed up before anyone arrived and saw us sleeping where I'm assuming camping is not allowed. We hiked out five miles to Nevada Falls, then continued to Half Dome. On a whim, Josh picked up a permit to hike to the top of Half Dome, so that was our next stop.

On the trail up to the Half Dome summit we caught site of our first bear of the trip! He was minding his own business, looking for food off the trail a short ways, walking around slowly. If he knew we were there, which I think he did, he did not care.

After the bear, we climbed up, up, up along the trail over the giant, granite rock until finally we were faced with the challenging and famous part of the climb: the cables. The rock is so steep towards the summit that the park installed cable lines up to the top, with wooden planks every so often for footholds. I have never "hiked" anything quite like this before. We put gloves on from the pile of freebies at the base of the cables, then started up, surrounded by many other people. I found I essentially had to hoist myself up with my arms, sometimes feeling like I was walking straight up vertically.

The going was slow with the crowds of people, but the views began to open up and I realized how high I was, holding onto a metal cable of the side of Half Dome.

We got to top and did the usual picture thing. As we returned to the cables to go back down, we walked by a guy sitting on the rocks right by the cables, throwing up. Down was a little bit easier than up, but I had to make sure I let my feet slide out in front of me very slowly as I held myself up from the cables.

After that dizzying adventure it was back to boring old hiking. We took the John Muir Trail and are heading to Tuolumne Meadows, where we will get back on the PCT and head north. We have ten miles to go, and are currently camped out above a large meadow. However, we won't have much time to enjoy it: tomorrow is Saturday and the post office is only open until noon. We need to pick up our bounce bucket there, so looks like it will be another early morning.