Thursday
September 3, 2009, phone call to talk about my trip to CA. 5 minutes
later, deciding to do the half dome hike. Next 30 min endless calling to
ask others if they want to join. In 2 hrs all plans made, all flights
booked! That was the beginning of Half Dome hike in Yosemite National
Park.
I have been to Yosemite many times. But I have
never camped or hiked in there. Most of my visits were like just
tourists. So the trip up Half Dome was long pending. It is of course a
scary trip. I did not worry about the mileage or about the elevation
gain. The cable rope climb in the last section was the major worry, can I
do it? Secretly I knew I can do it, but its like marathon, you know you
can do it, but still its not truly true unless you actually do it. So
finally all stars aligned and the trip was decided. We were going to fly
to CA on Saturday 12th, drive to Yosemite, stay in a hotel and do the
grueling 14 - 16 mile hike and drive back. Yeah, it was as hectic as it
sounds.
The flight to CA was at 6:50am, meaning had to
wake up really early Saturday morning. I am lucky that I can sleep well
on the flight. I slept the moment I sat on my seat. Do not remember the
take off also. I woke up when we were almost over the bay bridge. It
gave me the much needed 90 min of sleep. We had nice home made parathas
for brunch and then started for Yosemite close to 12:40pm. It proved to
be a longer drive than we thought becaue we were all so tired from the
flight.
Once in Yosemite, we decided to skip the
Galcier Point and head straight to the campsite. The plan was to enjoy
Bridal Veil falls, El Capitan and Yosemite Falls on the way. The first
surprise came in front of El Capitan. The rock is impossible to miss,
but the surprising part was missing Bridal Veil falls. There was almost
no water in the fall. It was like a small stream of water dripping,
being throwing from one side to other by wind. It looked like no water
was hitting the ground as most of it was just getting blown away by
wind. Quite a sad situation. But wait, we thought this was sad. When we
reached Yosemite Falls, it was even harder to believe. There was not
even a drop of water on this fall, the Yosemite Falls were dry, both
upper and lower.