Sunday July 27, 2008

Clouds Rest and Half Dome, Yosemite National Park

Half Dome hike is one of the most famous hike in the bay area not just because of the cables but also because you get to see the birds eye-view of Yosemite Valley and other Domes. We, a group of 11 people, started the hike at 5.45 am from Tenaya Lake. The distance was long and we were little apprehensive about reaching the cables on time mainly to avoid the rush. Without thinking twice we were mostly speeding towards half dome with a stop at Clouds Rest peak (9,900 feet). The Clouds Rest has fantastic views of Yosemite's high country and walking on a tiny cliff made it more fun. We ended up reaching the Cables at 11.00 am and were happy to see not-so-busy traffic on the cables. I picked a pair of gloves and with in half an hour we were at the top of Half Dome. We took rest and had lunch up there with usual photography session. I was not so surprised to see quite a few climbing/making their way to the cables at around 1.30 pm. On the way back, we took the Valley Trail to Yosemite Valley and the trail took us through Vernal and Nevada Water Falls. I always had not-so-good impression about Yosemite National Park but now I do believe that it's a nice park indeed.

Stats : 21.2 miles from Tenaya Lake to Yosemite Valley via Clouds Rest and Half Dome. Half Dome  is around 13 miles from Tenaya Lake. We were little lucky you see a Brown Bear next to the creek.