Half Dome: The day after

[cjsmith]

I was amazed at how well I felt Sunday morning upon awakening. Yes, I was a bit sore, but nothing like the previous day! I could walk easily enough. The sleep had helped the hunger pangs recede a bit, too, and a shower took care of the rest of my complaints. I rolled on my torture device, stuck some moleskin on my one still-unbroken blister, and was ready to go.

Brunch at the Ahwanee has never before been so good.

Naturally I had to shop for a "Half Dome Hikers' Club" T-shirt. I had earned it; I wanted it; by golly I wasn't going to go home without it. Naturally nobody had it in my size! (What's WITH people? If medium is the T-shirt size that sells out fastest, MAKE MORE OF THAT SIZE!) I finally found ONE medium, in the third store I went to, after asking the second salesperson (first one lied and said there weren't any in back). I was so happy to have found it that I didn't even blink at the price.

Drove to Yosemite Falls. Almost no water. This means the boulders are accessible! We scrambled all the way to the actual waterfall and stuck our hands in the flow. I've never done that before. People were swimming in the pool at the bottom. ("It's COLD," someone said. No $#!t, most of the stuff that comes over that waterfall is snowmelt.) Met some young-teen girls who said their friends would never believe they'd gotten up there. I took their picture, jotted down their address, and will send them a copy. I enjoyed the signs saying "Don't climb on the boulders because the strong current will sweep you away" next to the completely dry rockfield. Those signs are, of course, perfectly valid in spring. :-)

I was impressed that my knees and my feet could do this the day after such a big hike. Wow. Human bodies are amazing.

Ducked over to Bridalveil to see the rainbow. Best time of day to photograph Bridalveil Falls: about an hour before sunset. Gorgeous rainbows all over it.

Dinner at the Mountain Room to celebrate, back to the bear lockers for our cached food, and we were outta there. Chris was gracious enough to drive all the way home. I half-dozed off and on in the passenger seat, perking up every half hour or so to say something. :-)

We made good time on the way back. I was at my house by half past midnight. Mmm. snooze


If I had it to do again, which I won't, but if:

- Ditch the walking stick. I never used it, and on my way down the cables it snagged and lost its plastic cap from the toe end of it. (I had it tied to my pack.) Useless weight, this time.
- Instant ice pack good. Didn't use it, but could easily have needed it, or could have given it to someone with an injury.
- Bring more tampons. Exercise jars stuff loose.
- Iodine tablets good. The ability to refill water, at such a tiny weight/volume price, was great.
- In fact, TWO liters of water (if refilling) would have been fine.
- Bring real rock climbing shoes for the cables. Trade the weight from the walking stick.
- A biner and harness to tie on to the cable wouldn't be bad. I saw one woman who clipped in. Might be overkill, though; just having decent shoes would do wonders.
- More variety in the food. Pleeeease.
- Several reapplications of sunscreen worked perfectly.
- Lightweight jacket good, even though I didn't use it this time. Space blanket, same.

I'll come back and edit this when I can think of more.

Comments

[gs.livejournal.com]

I knew you could do it...but nonetheless, I am utterly amazed and in awe. Congratulations.
I

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I am very happy. Hey, aren't you in the Midwest somewhere? Do you have net access there? :-)