A Weekend in Yosemite
“It is by far the grandest of all the special temples of nature I was ever permitted to enter.”
The recent physical distancing from friends, family, trails and the outdoors in general got me thinking about past trips. I wanted to revisit a trip to Yosemite National Park last October from the 10th through the 13th. Mid-October was a perfect time to go, thinner crowds, cooler weather and also the last weekend to climb Half Dome. The awe-inspiring granite cliffs from the valley floors in Yosemite are ones of the marvelous. Yosemite National Park was established by congress on October 1, 1980, one of America’s oldest parks in the national park system. With over 95% of the park being designated as wilderness, the cathedral-like granite cliffs and giant sequoia trees were a sanctuary for many environmental trailblazers like John Muir and other conservationists. Their endless dedication to advocate for Yosemite between the years of 1838 to 1914 helped the park gain national status and a reality when President Benjamin Harrison designated Yosemite as a national park.
Though it was a short weekend, my husband and I explored the high country of the Yosemite wilderness through a loop hitting Taft Point, Sentinel Dome and Glacier Point. We conquered the grueling chains to summit of Half Dome Trail, traveling over 18 miles with almost 5,000 feet elevation gain. Our journey ended on the John Muir Trail. Photos will never do a place justice. This won’t be our last trip to this area, we will be back to explore the backcountry.
Changing leaves in Yosemite were a real treat!
The famous El Captain rising 3,000 feet above Yosemite’s valley floor. Watch Alex Hannold’s climb in the Oscar winning documentary, Free Solo to experience the vertical limits of this stunning granite sheer face. I’ve seen it a few times and I still have to look away. Many climbers make the trip up the face in a multi-day attempt by camping on the side of the granite walls. It was very cool to see in person!
The road to get up to Glacier Point is generally open and snow free from the months of June through October. We opted to do a loop to see different popular view points in the area by taking a 7-mile loop to see Sentinel Dome, Glacier Point and Taft Point was worth the trek to escape the crowds.
We were lucky to snag a campsite at Lower Pines Campground in Yosemite Valley for a few nights. Lower Pines is a campground open from April through October and consists of 60 campsites for tents, RVs up to 40 feet and trailers up to 35 feet. You will need to reserve the campsites online up to five months in advance. When campsites open for a date, they are usually snagged up within the first 15 minutes when they are released. It was a quite stressful process. Other popular campsites include Upper Pines and North Pines. We chose lower because it was the smaller established campgrounds.
A must-do: Catch sunrise at Tunnel View, a panoramic vista made famous by photographer Ansel Adams with sweeping views of Bridalveil Falls, El Capitan and Half Dome. This photo was taken right at sunrise about 7:00am with the first golden light breaking through the valley walls. This view doesn’t require hiking. There is a small parking lot, but go early to beat crowds. Photographers are lined up with their tripods to catch golden hour.
Since I saw Half Dome in a national parks book as a teen, I knew I wanted to visit Yosemite and make the climb. The long trek to the summit of Half Dome Trail clocked in a roundtrip distance of 16.5 miles, gripping 65 chains to the summit and back down and in total about 5,000 feet elevation gain. We opted to descend on the John Muir Trail route. I highly recommend this specific route for new scenery on the way down, and it is the John Muir Trail, an iconic and historic route for backpackers.
Half Dome is a hike for experienced adventurers. Permits for Half Dome are hard to come by through a lottery system, so if you do get one, you must go! The park only allows a maximum of 300 people per day (225 day hikes and 75 backpackers). The lottery process to obtain Half Dome permits are open for applications between March 1 to the 31 each year. The cables to make the summit bid are put up by the park between May 22nd to October 13. If you are interested in learning more about Half Dome, found a great blog post covering the details.
Here are a few helpful tips I learned from hiking Half Dome:
We started our Half Dome hike between 4:30am to 5am. Most people start around this time or even earlier, so they can try and beat the crowds to the summit. We had the chains to ourselves on the way up since we were able to keep a good pace throughout the hike (2 to 3 miles per hour). In October, Sunrise isn’t about 7am, so it is recommended to start early to have enough daylight.
Bring your ten essentials but can stress that you will need to bring lots of water and snacks. We each had 3 liters of water, a full Nalgene bottle, and a water filter in case we needed to fill up along the way. We brought meal bars to save on weight and to limit our breaks.
My husband and I opted to use our Black Diamond climbing harness and used the Via Ferrata method to clip into the half dome chains. We probably didn’t need a harness set-up, but it gave a sense of security on the ascent and descent on Half Dome. Highly recommend and I wouldn’t do it any other way. To complete our harness set-up, we used a wiregate non-locking carabiner (if you get a locking it will be a pain to move your carabiner from one chain to the other), as well as nylon slings to hook our carabiners to our harnesses.
Did some extensive research on gloves for the chain portion. After researching, found recommendations for Nitrile gloves, which provided amazing grip on the chains.
In my opinion, one of the most important piece of gear you can have for your climb include hiking shoes with good traction. My Salomon GTX hiking boots, which my husband also owns and wear for long hikes did the trick and provided the perfect traction for the worn parts of the rock.
When descending we down climbed (our faces toward half dome) and used a rappel technique down. It was less scary and less tiring on your arms.
Total hike time with breaks for our climb came out to be about 8 to 8.5 hours at a 2.5 to 3 mile pace per hour, which included a 10-min snack break right before sub dome and 30-min break at the summit. Keep in mind, on average, the trail completion time is between 10 to 12 hours.
Near the top of Sub-Dome, the last part of the hike before you hit the base to summit of Half Dome. It was about a 500 feet gain, one last push and leg warm up before you use your arms.
Half Dome were really that steep! 65 chains total. The cables at some points are at a 45° angle. Pretty much you are pulling yourself up the side of Half Dome with the cables.
Yosemite is everything I’ve imagined and more. Imagined myself in the foot steps of ones like John Muir, walking through unspoiled landscapes among the valley of the granite cathedrals. Yosemite, I will be back to campout in the backcountry!