Half Dome

Yosemite Valley below! The bright tan spot on the left edge of the picture is The Diving Board. Glacier Point is on the upper left. El Capitan is top center. Royal Arches is in profile on the right.

The View From High Places

The Hike to Climb Half Dome

This is where I will end this hike. You know the way back. I will end this with some great vast views of the surrounding areas and point out some landmarks

You probably think the hard part is done, and true, the arobic part is done, the physically demanding part has just begun. All that downhill (and some uphill when you are your tiredest) before you is what really takes a toll on your body, especially the knees. So let me give some more advice for the trip back:

1) If you have been drinking your water and staying hydrated, you will not feel as near as tired as others who have been behind in their hydration. If you drank about 3/4 your water since Little Yosemite Valley and were hydrated the whole trip up, you should be in great shape, and your joints well lubed. You are going to need it.

2) Make sure you are pretty rested before starting back. Eat your food, drink, rest. You are going to need it all. Don't be to anxious to get back if you don't have to. Have some patience. Relax! With luck and an early start, you have plenty of daylight for the trip back. At worst (I would hope), you will not hit dark untill below Nevada Falls on the JMT (you have your flashlights, right?), and you have some warm clothes if it starts getting cold. If you have a change of clothes, wait until Nevada Falls to put them on. Stay warm. (If it is already cold, get into what dry clothes you have and dry out in Little Yosemite Valley, if you have the time.)

3) If you have plenty of daylight, rest often and give your body a chance to recover. Before, you had loss of breath to force rest stops. Now you have to plan them to save your body.

4) At Little Yosemite Valley or Nevada Falls, get more water and keep drinking. Wash down more power food as you go. Take your ibprophyn (or whatever you are using) to lessen the general beat down feeling of the nearly endless hiking.

5) Save your knees and body by taking the JMT all the way back. Trust me on this one. You don't want to do those stairs. They will be more dangerous on the way down too.

6) Make sure to replinish your sunblock. Tiredness will tempt you to take shortcuts and neglect thing.

7) Take care of your feet: don't wait till later to take care of a forming blister. Tape it up now!

8) Give others in trouble a hand. If there is serious trouble, you or someone nearby will have a phone that may work.

GOOD LUCK!

Tenaya Canyon. On the right, Clouds Rest. Left of center horizon, Unicorn Peak. Right of center horizon is Cathedrial Peak. Quarter Domes are at the bottom right quarter. More can be seen... 

     

The Merced River Canyon, and many features pointed out in the Ottoway Loop story are here. On the far right horizon is Red Peak. Right of center is Mt. Clark. Below Mt. Clark down in the valley is Cascade Cliffs and Little Yosemite Valley. Up the canyon can be seen Echo Valley. At the far mid horizon is Mt. Lyell.