We hiked to the top of Half Dome today. Roughly 8 miles each way with a steady incline all the way to the top. It was my idea, and I could tell the guys were nervous about it. Hell, they probably did not even want to do it, but I tried to keep the spirits up, and after a short breakfast we packed our bags and started the daylong hike.
There is not much to say about the hike itself. It is absolutely beautiful, but crowded. People in all the wrong places. Near the waterfall, huddling around an animal or an overlook. It cheapened the experience. Too many cameras, too accessible. I tried to think what this place must have looked like to the first pair of human eyes. It was a fantasyland, a paradise. Enormous granite formations jutting out from a carpet of healthy green trees, waterfalls and rivers in every direction. And the damned people.
The last one hundred feet or so takes you up a low angle slab to the peak. The slab has hosted a lot of foot traffic over the years, and has been polished to s sheen. Two steel cables have been dropped down on either side of this polished path for people to cling to. There are also a series of wooden boards set up for footholds. From a distance it looked like a mass exodus, or just a lot of unhappy people waiting in line at the bank.
I got to the peak before the other three, rested a while, and ate a lot of some guys trail mix. He offered it to me when he got back and I said thanks but I was all right. I took his picture for him. I was there maybe an hour when I remember Derek was terrified of heights and he might have opted to stay at the bottom. I quickly rushed down the steel cables, when halfway down I bumped into Lance, and we headed to the top again.
Derek made it up soon after with heavy breaths and a crazed look in his eye. "Did I mention I'm afraid of heights?" were the first words out of his mouth. Lance and I laughed and I gave Derek a hug. I was proud of these guys. I asked where Tyler was, and Derek said he left him down at the beginning of the cables, Tyler was afraid of heights too. It was a bummer, but we took some pictures, talked about the hike, and milled around on the top for another hour. When we decided to head back to see Tyler, he was coming up the cables and the day was complete. He had overcome his fear too.
We laughed and walked around again, taking the tour for the third time, but it felt like the first again. It was great to be traveling with these guys. Lance said this was not his thing, and did not see what I got out of it.
From the top looking north to where we are headed. North to unknown territory for all four of us. To Eugene and Portland, then on to Seattle and Vancouver. The dust is beginning to settle and the Trip is slowly showing itself to us.
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