HALF DOME - YOSEMITE

October 19, 1991. I climbed Half Dome with the same group of guys that I did Mt. Whitney, Mt. Shasta, Panama diving trip, Corcovado Costa Rica, rafted the Colorado through the Grand Canyon, as well as conoe trips and ocean kayaking. We hiked from Yosemite Valley floor up and around the back side of the dome. We passed Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls as we hiked up and up. Getting too close to the top of either falls is quite DANGEROUS! When we arrived at the foot of the last ascent portion to the top of the dome we discovered that the cables the forest service puts up for hikers to use were down! We climbed using only the flat cables which meant that we had to climb on our hands and knees. When we reached the top one of the guys was so tired he threw-up several times. He recovered pretty quickly. The top of the dome is about as big as a football field. It's mostly flat. We stayed up for a while enjoying the afternoon sun and realized that we needed to get back down before it turned dark. Well we didn't make it back to camp in the sunlight. We had only two flashlights (good planning) and one of them went dead about halfway down. We hiked the rest of the way down a narrow trail with virtually no light which took even longer. I was really tired and my feet were miserable. I probably won't do it again. If you think you might want to take this trip I recommend that you prepare yourself. It's not just a day hike for inexperienced hikers.