Half Dome: At the top, and back down to the Mist Trail

[cjsmith]

I picked myself up and climbed up the rounded rock top. I saw a pile of flattish rocks covered with people. I figured they were there because it was the highest point. I decided to go there in a moment. Off to the left was a space where I could see the edge. Had to go there! Had to! WONDERFUL view straight down. I took a couple pictures. Then I looked back to my right, at the pile of rocks, and it had no other side. Those people were on the edge, too. I was simply on a point jutting out. I think they call the point where I was "the diving board".

I was overjoyed. Lots of scrambling around: Take my picture from over there! Now how about from here? Hey, that bump way down there, is that Liberty Cap? It was so TALL before! I also got a good view (and photo) of, I think, the Ahwanee, framed by two battered and dusty hiking boots.

We found a space on the pile to eat lunch. I got what I firmly believe is the most comfortable granite rock in the state. The fact that I have never hiked a vertical mile to reach any other granite rock does not bias me in the slightest. :-) It was just a little concave and was the perfect lunch spot. Chris had a sandwich. I think I succeeded in eating one Nutter Butter cookie. I really, really didn't want food.

One guy had some kind of hot food arrangement. He'd carried something noticeably bigger than a backpacking stove (but smaller than a standard Coleman) all the way up. Another group, on the other end of the preparedness spectrum, had run out of water. Many people were napping in the sun.

I made sure to take an extra "summit picture" for Patrick. I don't know what else to do to thank him. I suppose he's just doing his job, but still.

Off the back, there was another wide rounded high point, much less crowded. People had made many little stacks of loose rock, and some had spelled their names or made smiley faces by arranging rocks on the ground. We explored that area a bit. Then it was time to go down.

Looking down the cables really sorta sucked. OK, no sorta about it. Fortunately, it was a lot less crowded by then. After I got down a few boards, it got truly steep, and the view is heartstopping. (I think that's how one guy died, actually. Heart attack, then fall.) I learned that contrary to most of my experience, sitting down did NOT make me slide more slowly, it sped me up. Oops. Then I learned the trick of wrapping my downward arm around the cable, and it was easy from then on. Gravity was my FRIEND. Wheeee.

Dropped my gloves in the pile. Should've taken a picture of 'em. I was taking pictures of everything else!

On the granite steps past the saddle area, my knees began to give their first twinges. Oh well, I guess I expected some of that. Looking at my watch I realized that even if we came down a good bit faster than we went up, we wouldn't make it before dark. We'd lounged around too long. Oh well, I guess I expected that too.

No bears in the long not-so-steep wooded part. ("Not so steep" here means anything from flat to really steep, but not steep enough to need stairs.) The Mars bug was gone too. My knees were sometimes complaining badly and sometimes almost okay. I felt a lot better than one guy we passed, though. Broken ankle. He was proceeding VERY slowly on crutches, with a ranger standing by. (I offered my instant ice pack, but they were set.) Later we passed another ranger bringing a horse up for that guy. The horse can't take the Mist Trail, but could reach the injured guy and probably bring him over to Glacier Point where there's a road.

We were pretty happy to reach the last pit stop. Yay! About three, maybe four miles to go and we still had light. According to my count, I had been about three hours behind on food since the top, but at least I was eating. I started on my last liter of water.