Been there, Dome that

A recent television special on hiking Half Dome brought to mind my own trek up in 1985. The host said the hike is something "every Californian should do" and I tend to agree. Like walking across the Golden Gate Bridge, being on such an icon is truly memorable.
My hike capped off a multi-day stay in the park where I'd planned a series of hikes: Sentinel Dome, Yosemite Falls and Half Dome. I think that was about 25 miles, total.
Having hiked hundreds of miles since, I shudder when I think about the things I did wrong on my Half Dome hike. Maybe "wrong" is the wrong word. Maybe just things I'd do different if I did it again.

I started my hike about 6 am, which is a good time to start on this 17 mile hike. But I was woefully under-prepared. I wore tennis shoes, carried my father's Boy Scout canteen and one granola bar. I was very sore, very hungry and very thirsty when I finished, but I survived. I think my biggest regret was not having enough film! Looking at my folder of Half Dome and its mere 12 photos, I think about the photos I didn't take: no Mist Trail. No Nevada Falls. No Silver Apron.

I hear stories now about how it's not like it used to be, with the infamous cable route as crowded as a mall elevator at Christmas. I look at my two photos showing the cables and see just one other hiker!

I recall coming down and running into a classmate from high school, who was going up to spend the night on the 8,836' dome -- which is now prohibited. And later, him telling me about the snow that started falling at 2 am, and waiting four hours until daylight to descend the ice-covered cables. In Yosemite Valley, it was rain that I had to put up -- nearly the entire way back home. On my Honda 450, with my rain poncho falling apart every mile of the way.

A few years ago, on the weekend before Memorial Day, I started up the Mist Trail planning to take pictures of it and Nevada Falls. I don't know if it was the sheer volume of water on the trail, the crowds, my lousy sense of balance or all of the above, but it wasn't much fun so I abandoned the trip and walked to Mirror Lake instead. I felt a little defeated, but it's hard to feel truly disappointed when your fall-back plan is a hike along Tenaya Creek. We should all have such bad days! Hopefully some day I'll get back up to Nevada Falls. I don't know if I'd want to get back up to the top of Half Dome. I can't imagine it's changed much since I was last there. And if it has changed, it's probably not for the better.