Yosemite Half Dome Backpacking
On 7/24/2008, Jaime, Andre and I went for a backpacking trip in the Yosemite National Park. The goal was to summit both Half Dome and Cloud's Rest in this 3-day's trip. I was quiet exited to have this opportunity to hike in the high country of this famous national park. According to the statistics, only 1% of visitors to Yosemite pay visits to the high country. I knew Jaime in the previous trip to the Ohlone Wilderness trail and become good hiking partners afterwards.
Total: 28 miles
Elevation gain: 4,300 feet
Type: out-and-back group hike
Class 1 hike / class 3 scramble
Load: 40 lbs
Gear: Gregory Pingora 54 pack / Big Agnes Sarvis SL1 Tent / Valandre Mirage 20F sleeping bag / Therm-A-Rest Prolite 3 Pad / Primus Micro stove / Evernew 0.9L titanium pot / Leki hiking staff / Arc Teryx Cierzo 35 pack / Garmin Colorado 300 GPS / Garcia bear-proof container
Day One (7/24/2008): Backpack from Sunrise trailhead to camp site
4:30 am Met at Jaime's house in Dublin.
5:00 am Departed from Jaime's house. Jaime was kind to provide the ride. We drove via highway 120 to the Big Oak Flat entry of Yosemite National Park.
7:50 am Arrived at Ranger's station at 7:50 am. As the station opened at 8:30 am, we waited there until it opened to register and rent bear-proof food container. We rented two containers.
9:20 am Arrived at the trailhead (7800 ft - 11 S 282627 4189408) to Sunrise trail on Tioga road. We made preparation for the trip there.
9:33 am Once everything was ready, we hiked out confidently.
10:30 am For the first 30 minutes from the trailhead, the trail is smooth. Then we started to ascend with steep hills. Pretty exhausted, I took a short break for 5 minutes (8240 ft - 11 S 283207 4187169) to catch my breath. After the break, I still had trouble to hike with normal speed as my heart was pumping very rapidly probably caused by the impact of high altitude. I could not see Jaime and Andre as I fell behind them a lot due to my low pace. In fact, I needed to take a short break every 5 minutes on the way up.
11:45 am Finally I reached the junction (9190 ft - 1S 283553 4186550) of Sunrise and Cloud's Rest trails which is the highest point of the route. After a few minutes break, I continued on the trail to Cloud's Rest.
12:40 pm On the way to the camp site, I passed a betiful pond and took 10 minutes break there. (8990 ft - 11 S 283222 4185121)
1:30 pm Finally I caught up with Jamie and Andre at the junction (9150 ft - 11 S 282546 4183960) of Cloud's Rest and Yosemite Valley trails as they already waited me there for 40 minutes.
2:02 pm After 30 minutes lunch break, we continued on the trail to Yosemite Valley.
3:05 pm We arrived at the junction (8060 ft - 11 S 281641 4181778) with the John Muir trail and took 7 minutes break.
3:15 pm Arrived at another trail junction (8000 ft - 11 S 281572 4181680) near Sunrise creek. From the point on, we started to look for a camp site.
3:27 pm Took 12 minutes break (7890 ft - 11 S 281283 4181149). On the way to find camp site, we ran into a father-daughter couple and decided to look for camp site together.
4:40 pm Finally we found a perfect camp site with a running-water creek nearby. It was somewhere near the junction (UTM: 11 S 0279398 4180339 Elv.: 7900 ft) of John Muir and Cloud's Rest trails. Since the headout, we hiked 10 miles already. Quickly we pitched our tents and prepared for dinner. Served the dinner at around 7 pm and went to bed at 9 pm. I could hardly sleep at night due to over-exhaustion.
Day Two (7/25/2008): Day hike to Half Dome and Little Yosemite
8:00 am We started the hike to Half Dome with light load. Half Dome is only 3 miles away from where we camped.
8:20 am After a 0.5 mile hike, we arrived at the junction (7040 ft - 11 S 278621 4180505) of John Muir and Half Dome trails. More hikers were showing up on the famous trail to Half Dome.
9:15 am I started climing the granite stairs (7900 ft - 11 S 277361 4180959) on the rock. It was steepy, narrow, slippery and ,most importantly, without protection. Carefully I stepped up gradually but worried. In the mean time, Jaime and Andre reached the top of Half Dome successfully. They also met some cute marmots up there.
9:22 am Finally I had cold feet and could not move on due the the fear of high altitude. I decided to turn back. Half Dome was just less than 800 feet away from the turning point. I defintely need to better prepare for next climb in the near future. (8030 ft - 11 S 277306 4180885) After I was off the stair safely, I decided to go to Little Yosemite Valley instead. On the way down to Little Yosemite Valley, I could see a lot of hikers on the way to Half Dome. On average, there will be 1,000 hikers visit Half Dome daily.
11:25 am Arrived at Little Yosemite Valley (6220 ft - 11 S 278382 4179349).
11:30 am Arrived at Restroom (6215 ft - 11 S 278341 4179219). This is a very expensive rest room with high-tech installed for recycle purpose.
11:39 am Arrived at ranger's station (6200 ft - 11 S 278560 4179415)near campground.
11:45 am Took 35 minutes lunch break (6180 ft - 11 S 278506 4179338) near ranger's station.
12:20 pm Continued the hike back to camp site. The Half Dome trail was still jamed with hikers going up and coming down.
1:30 pm Back to our camp site. In total, I'd hiked 8 miles for the day.
1:40 pm Jaime and Andre went back. There was a deer wander in our camp site.
2:15 pm A ranger showed up to chat at around 2:30 pm and said two rangers would come back to hunt the bear tonight as campers complaining about the bear disturbance.
4:00 pm A black bear showed up near our camp site.
7:00 pm Two black bears visited the camp site of another hiker group as they hang extra food on the tree. They tried to scared off the bears with pot, whistle and yelling but all failed. At one time, one of the bear just passed by my tent by only several feet.
10:15 pm Two rangers came to our recuse to hunt bears. They visited all camps around to make sure no shot would be misfired.
11:15 pm One bear was shot by rubber bullet and all of bears escaped away. Finally the night became silent again. However, I still could sleep well during the night and kept wondering whether bear would come bakck.
Day Three (7/26/2008): Backpack back to Tenaya Lake
7:20 am After woke up in the morning, I went for a short walk and saw two mother deers and their does near our camp site.
9:00 am We decided not to visit Cloud's Rest this time and started to hike back from the camp site. Not too long after our departure, I fell behind Jaime and Andre.
10:43 am Hiking alone on the trail, I came to meet a western rattle snake near the trail (7575 ft - 11 S 281325 4181384). It got my attention as a little brid kept chirping on top of the tree for warning. I waited 5 minutes to see it crawl away. 3 minutes after I passed the snake, I ran into a black bear right away. It was also suprised to see me and escape into the wood without pausing.
12:22 pm Jaime and Andre waited here for me to catch up. We took 15 minutes lunch break (8860 ft - 11 S 282806 4183105).
1:40 pm Refilled water from the nearby pond (8950 ft - 11 S 283316 4185348). It was dead water so we used water filter, purifier and pill to make sure it was safe to drink. In total, we took 15 minutes break.
2:35 pm Again, Jaime and Andre were way ahead of me. After returned back to the trail junction to Sunrise Lake (9190 ft - 1S 283553 4186550), I took 8 minutes break.
4:22 pm Back to the Sunrise trailhead. Jaime decided to swim in Tenaya Lake before going back.
5:00 pm Jaime and Andre went swim in the Tenaya lake
6:00 pm After he and Andre finished swimming, we drove back right away. Interestingly, the sky became so red probably because a wild fire was going on nearby. We also went to a Mexican restaurant at Oakdale for dinner.
9:00 pm Arrived at Jaime's house
Labels: half dome, half dome backpacking, yosemite
posted by Jason Chiu at 12:29 PM
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