Monica and I hatched a plan to climb Half Dome on Friday June 25. All of the planets seemed to be in alignment: the days were almost the longest in the year, we had a camp site at Hodgdon Meadow for Rob's birthday party, and there was supposed to be a full moon that night (lest we finish in the dark). So, at 3am, we woke up, quickly ate breakfast, and jumped in the car to be at the trailhead before daybreak. It turns out that the sun rises really, really really early in the summer in Yosemite, so we when we were on the trail, it was already getting light. As a bonus we got to see what would be the first of four bear sightings on this trip. In this case, after getting out of our car at the trailhead at Happy Isles a brown yearling bounded off into the woods after having been most likely inspecting a nearby car for possible meal opportunities. Those rascally Yosemite Bears! Here Monica is trudging up the steep and unforgiving trail to Half Dome, which ascends nearly 5,000 feet in about 8 or 9 miles. At this point we are on the Mist Trail cutoff which skirts the base of Vernal Falls... giving the trail its name.
Comments
I think there's an extra 0 in there. I _hope_ there's an extra 0...
— Catherine Hovell
Haha... oh, wow. Good catch! I guess I need a copy editor. Though on the good side I'm glad I need a copy editor since that means someone is reading this stuff!
— John Hovell
Strange ... I read the 5000, took it as fact and told Dad I was really impressed that you guys could cover that kind of distance ... Part Mountain Goats, I thought
— Margaret Hovell
I had written "5,0000" and then corrected to to "5,000" after Catherine spotted the error. 5000 is correct.
— John Hovell