Can someone explain in layman's terms what is happening with this development? I drive by it weekly and see that the grading has been done, roads are paved, landscaping looks nearly complete. It even looks like art is being installed and yet...I see no signs of vertical construction. It is a huge plot of land and I know there have been multiple developers over the years but I'm perplexed why they haven't started building houses yet.
that hurt. showed some fight tonight. just a brutal 10th.
This thread has been helpful as I was considering hiking Half Dome so I wanted to share my experience and learnings after I completed it this last week. I am 41/M, relatively fit I guess, but would not say I'm an avid outdoorsmen by any means. I'm realistically 10-15 lbs. overweight and I actually don't think I'd done anything other than car camping before this but it seemed like a fun challenge and the schedule worked out with my family being out of town. I try to do 1 hard thing per year and this year this was it. I was able to secure the wilderness permit for Happy Isles to Little Yosemite Campground and add the Half Dome permit. I had never won the early season lottery so was happy to find this as an alternative.
Borrowing most of the gear from a friend, I left Happy Isles on Wed afternoon and took the Mist Trail up. It had just re-opened after maintenance so it was probably slightly less crowded than typical. One thing I realized early on is that my pack was way heavier than it had to be and you really start to regret that as you climb. I didn't weigh it but I'm guessing it was 45-50 lbs(?). I was immediately envious of everyone in just a backpack. I carried a BV500 when a smaller one would have sufficed because that is what my friend had lent me and I didn't think much about it. There are ton of small things that add up and it would have been very easy to shed prob 10-15 lbs atleast.
I got to camp at around 6:30pm. I set up, filtered water, ate dinner and called it a night around 9. I don't know if it was anxiety or excitement but I could not sleep so spent a restless night staring at the stars through my tent. There are worse ways to spend a night obviously but I didn't really get any sleep. Think I will opt for a hammock next time, saw a few and they looked very comfortable (and light).
I left the campground at 2am. Surreal experience under the moonlight and I was just pumped to have a lighter pack. I first saw another hiker at the Half Dome junction and was happy I did as I didn't see the sign post initially. I would later meet him at the top and learn he was a through-hiker completing the JMT. There was no ranger when I arrived at the subdome as I figured there would be. Perhaps they arrive later the day.
I definitely got off the trail on the Subdome and at one point had to use a low lying shrub to pull myself up and across the granite. I was thinking "this can't be right" and realized later that there are actually steps the entire way. You can scramble across the granite if need be but I do not advise it. I should point out that on this day in late July the weather was absolutely perfect. Cool, not a breath of wind and not slick at all.
Getting to the cables at that time was both good and bad. Since the through-hiker was already up I couldn't watch anyone do it but I also had them all to myself. My heart was beating through my chest for the first half and don't blame anyone who gets to this point and says "yea, nah, I'm good". I had done Angel's landing and Huayna Picchu but this is next level. They are also slick and you need to physically pull your weight up at certain points. Even with rubber gloves, I felt my hands slipping. I tried not to look down and keep moving forward. I was able to watch the sun rise from the summit, have a profound moment of gratitude and snap a few pics.
I descended backwards on the advice of the through-hiker but think I would have gone forwards if I were to do it again. Getting down is no picnic either and doing it with a bunch of other folks on them would prob have been angst-ridden. Doing them in any inclement weather would be downright terrifying.
I made it back down to camp at 9am, packed up and left around 10. I had to get home that night (I live in the Bay Area) to return my friends gear. In hindsight, I wish I would have had more time to relax and go for a swim and spend another night in LYV. Going back down the same day was pretty brutal. I started to get blisters and I made the mistake of not taking the JMT from Nevada Falls because I saw that the traditional route is shorter. This meant I had to ascend again for the Mist Trail bypass and this was mentally exhausting. Taking the JMT from Nevada would have been longer but atleast it would have been all down hill. I also ran out of water and had to ask a nice couple for some (shoutout to the backpacker community). This was sort of embarrassing but I will chalk it up as a learning experience. I was as exhausted as I have ever been by the time I got back to my car.
Overall, an amazing bucket list experience that I'm thankful and proud I was able to accomplish. Sorry this was so long, I learned a lot from this community and perhaps others will read this and can use it to make their own experience better. I met alot of cool people along the way and I look forward to returning to Yosemite and trying other hikes in the future with the knowledge I have now gained.
M’s fan here who lives in Bay Area. Trying to figure out who color guy is with Dave Fleming. I’d assume Javier Lopez but he told a story about meeting Griffey and signing two days later. Doesn’t really track with his history so wondering if it is someone else tonight?