Hiking Yosemite Half Dome - My Story to The Top

Source: Wikipedia

For those of you who have never heard about the Yosemite National Park before,  you would have at least seen pictures of it on your Macbook if you do own one. Personally, I find Yosemite very unique due to its structure and granitic feature and have always wanted to visit the park for the longest time. 

All those intro aside, I'd like to share my story on how I hiked all the way up to Yosemite Half Dome with wounded legs before my hike even started. This happened in 2015 when I was in the US. But before that, check out the video below to get an idea of what it is like hiking Yosemite Half Dome.

And yes, I'm super proud of myself and am still very impressed at how I did it. I'm definitely not someone who hikes on a regular basis and was not extremely fit to hike this trail at all. Prior to this, I've only done two hikes - one at Rancho San Antonio and one at Yosemite's Vernal Falls hike which were both a 3 mile (~4.8km) hike. And the Yosemite Half Dome hike is about a 16 mile (~24km) hike. Five times of what I've ever done in my life.

From what I've just mentioned, the last thing to describe me is a hike enthusiast. Most of the hike enthusiast that I've known would definitely not give the Yosemite Half Dome hike a miss if they are in California. But, to even get on this last stretch with the cables, a permit is need and you'll need to ballot for the permit. 

How it all happened was when I was in California completing my internship. One of my colleague ballot for the hiking permit for Yosemite Half Dome 3 months in advance and so magically he got the permit. And because one permit allows 6 people to tag along, everyone in the company was invited. At that point, I did not contemplate much and decided to go along with the team. Anyway since it wasn't so easy to get the permit, given the chance, I should just go right? 

When I agreed to go, everyone, I mean literally everyone who I talked to, was super skeptical of me going. That's probably because I don't hike often, what more to say going on a 12-14 hour hike. Hiking is extremely different from normal running because the kind of muscle you use to hike and run (on flat land) are totally different. Even if you're extremely fit to run does not meaning you are fit to hike. That said, sadly, some people actually try to convince me not to go so that I don't have to be the burden if I suddenly decide to give up on my hike.

This time, I was quite persistent that I want to do this hike because it might just be a once in a lifetime experience and I wasn't sure when would I get this chance again. So who cares what they want to say. After agreeing to the hike, I started building up my stamina by running on a treadmill every alternate days for 3 months. 

But I've just mentioned that running and hiking is very different, so why am I training myself by running? Well, that's the easiest access I have to train my stamina. It is very inconvenient for me to hike the mountains every week, so running was my best option.

Source: Housekeeping Camp official site

Fast forward to D-day, we actually took a night at one of Yosemite's lodge - Housekeeping Camp, before making our way up to the Half Dome. The Housekeeping Camp had a pretty rustic set up. It is the kind of place where you would want to stay if you are looking for the camping experience but do not want to set up a tent for that reason. One thing for sure is that this is no fancy set up, so this is a no-go for those who wants a comfy luxurious experience at Yosemite.

Here comes the story of how I got hurt before my hike. 

We've planned our hike to start at 3am in the morning since we want to hike down before sunsets. For a 12-hour hike, this means that around 3pm we should be down from the mountains. So, around 2 am in the morning, we got up and started to get ready. I needed to use the restroom but because there isn't any restroom attached to our campsite, so me and another colleague had to make our own way to the restroom located a distance away. Campgrounds are usually not well-lit so we had to use our flashlights to get around. When we finally made our way to the restroom and wanted to make our way back, I didn't shine my flashlights directly on where I was stepping and missed a flight of stairs.

My wounded leg one day after my hike.

Oh boy. The wounds wasn't very serious at that point. I felt that it was just a surface scratch although it was giving me some pain. At that very moment, I started to reconsider doing the Half Dome hike. But if I decide not to do the hike, what am I going to do for the next 15 hours? Ok, let's just go for the hike since we are already here.

So we started hiking (none of my other colleagues knew that I hurt my legs apart from one of them). It was really a tough hike for me since the beginning where there were non-stop flights of stairs to take right from the start. And that was only the beginning. 

Stairs, stairs, and more stairs.

Source: Google

Source: skianything.com

I've taken some photos from the web to describe my journey because, first, I was definitely not in the right mind to take any photos while hiking. For every 5 minutes, I was busy munching onto some sort of food. Either my energy bar or chocolates or any form of energy source. And no, I did not have any breakfast at all, as far as I recall. Second, it was extremely dark when we set out for our hike. Only at around 5 am do we have some faint sunlight coming in. Before that it was all pitch black. So that makes it impossible for me to take any photos of this hike to Vernal Falls. 

Since it was dark, on the bright side, you won't feel the need to give up hiking those stairs because you won't know what's ahead of you. The only thing you know is that you'll just need to keep walking.

As you keep hiking up, you'll reach the next waterfall which is the Nevada Falls. That's around 3-4 hours later. And I was still busy eating. H a h a (I'm laughing at myself too). To be honest, I actually felt like I was running out of energy and couldn't continue hiking before we reach Nevada Falls. My blood sugar felt really low at that point.

When it was sunrise (around 6 - 7am), we could finally do without any torch lights. Because of that, I've also managed to take a picture of Nevada Falls.

This photo's brightness was edited for viewing sake. Original photo was much more darker.

These photos of the waterfall does not bring justice to how pretty they are in real life. While hiking on the steps, you can actually feel the mist from the waterfall, which is seriously amazing. 

The journey after Nevada Falls starts to become a lonely one. There weren't many people who hiked all the way to Yosemite Half Dome on the day I went. Most people won't bother hiking all the way to the Yosemite's Sub Dome if they don't have a permit to hike Half Dome because that is an extremely long journey and not worth going without the hiking the hot spot of the Dome.

Source: norberthaupt.com

Around the same time, I was starting to slow down on my speed because my legs were starting to hurt a little because of the wound and my colleagues finally realized that my legs were hurt. I don't blame them to not know at first since it was dark earlier on. They offered to help me carry my bottles of water from my bag so that I can walk slightly faster. This turned out well at first, but wait for my story later.

One of the views on the way of the Half Dome trail.

After another gruelling 2-3 hours, I've finally reached the entrance of the Sub Dome. On this journey from Nevada Falls to the Sub Dome, I was left behind with another colleague because I wasn't walking fast enough. 

All this while, I have been feeling really exhausted and have decided that maybe the entrance of the Sub Dome will be my final destination. But, at that very moment, I felt a burst of energy. I'm totally not making this up. I guess the energy came from all the food that I've been eating since the start of the hike and it was finally processed in my body. 

Great! Since I have so much energy, let's just do the hike. 

My colleague who was left behind with me decided not to hike the Sub Dome because his legs were giving in. I was left with me and only me to hike the Sub Dome. I took the stairs and started the hike to the top of Sub Dome alone.

Source: timberlinetrails.com

Look at those thick slabs. It was at least a 1-2 hour hike on those slabs. That's fine.....

Or so I thought. 

There would be a point where there will be no slabs and the stairs just disappear. There was only a steep slope where you'd need to walk up. I got so stunned and actually was trying to find the stairs for about 5 minutes. And I was all alone. 

One really really really nice guy offered to guide me all the way up to the Sub Dome. His name is John. (Unfortunately I've lost his contact and would really want to thank him again, hopefully one day he'll some how find this post) 

John guided me all the way up to the Sub Dome and that's where I met with one of my colleague again. Due to my colleague's fear of heights, he decided not to hike the Half Dome. This leaves me alone again if I've decided to hike the Half Dome. Apparently, my colleagues who hiked up to the Half Dome has already been there for about an hour or so.

At the top of the Sub Dome

At the top of the Sub Dome, after I saw how steep the Half Dome was,  I've thought to myself that my mission has been accomplished. Being at the top of Sub Dome was more that enough.

John recommended me to complete my hike at the Half Dome. I wasn't sure about that. I was definitely not well equipped with any hiking gears and definitely not for the cables. 

Then, John told me that he is a frequent hiker at Half Dome, if I'm not mistaken, he hikes Yosemite Half Dome about 3 times every year. And offered to guide me up to Half Dome and promised to support me from behind on that steep slope. He also gave his gloves to me for holding those cables. If you saw the video right at the beginning of my post, you would have seen most of the people wearing a glove. This is very important because your hand will be in pain if you don't use gloves to protect it. 

I took the leap of faith and went all the way up to Half Dome with him. 🎉🎉🎉

That short journey was definitely not easy because my arms weren't fit for the cables and my shoes were just normal sport shoes. Although my shoes were brand new, as I bought them specially for this hike, it was still very slipper on the slope. I highly recommend a properly hiking shoes while going on this hike. The grip of the shoes must be extremely good so that you won't slip. I've slip a few times while going up.

View from Half Dome. Can't stand straight because of my wound.

All my colleagues who met me at Half Dome were super surprised when I reached the top. No one knew that I would hike this far. I'm pretty sure they didn't know what happened before I met them too.

Humans resting at the top of Half Dome

The iconic photo spot. Mine was zoomed it.

How it was suppose to look like. Source: Michael Lanza

After all these photos and some resting, it was time to go down from Half Dome. This time, my legs did not give me any mercy. I thought that a surface scratch won't do much to me but I was totally wrong. 

Because I keep bending and straightening my leg when I walk down the stairs, it seems like the wound became bigger. The hike down from the Dome was suppose to be only about a 3 hour hike but because of my wound it became a 5 hour hike down. At that point, I was also extremely dehydrated because my colleagues who had my water bottles all left me and went off way before I reached the bottom of the Half Dome.

I actually almost felt like I would faint.

Passerby were really kind and ask me if I was ok. Some even offered me water to drink. I can't imagine if all these did not happen. What would have happened to me.

After 17 hours, I've finally completed my Half Dome hike. It wasn't easy at all. And I really appreciate everyone who helped me, during and after my hike. 

I'd definitely want to hike Yosemite Half Dome again given the chance. Till next time!

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