At camp there’s a photo that has been there as long as I can remember. It’s so much a fixture at camp that for the longest time I never really thought of it as a real place or even a place that I could go to. It took on a sort of mythical nature. If you’ve seen Shadowlands, you have an idea of what I’m talking about.The picture is of a shear rock face with a tree in front and then a pool of water in front of that. Below is my poor attempt to photograph it while still in it’s frame.
It wasn’t until recently that I asked Dad where the photo might be of, to which he said Yosemite. I guess I had never really looked at pictures of Yosemite before, but now I’m reasonably sure he’s right. More recently, I ran across Trailspotting and specifically this post. When I saw that picture of the Half Dome, I knew what I wanted to do.
The hike starts at 4000 ft and reaches 8,836 ft, at which point you are nearly a mile above the valley floor. According to Trailspotting you have to hike in the 8 and a half miles and back out in the same day. In my current state of physical unfitness, I think that would be a bit much. My advisor says that there might be a place to camp along the way. I’ll definitely have to do some more research.
I’ve also decided to create a Google map of the places I plan to go.
[Joe]
July 14th, 2009 at 9:00 am
do you need climbing equip. or anything special? Why can’t you spend the night? Just no place to camp or too dangerous?
Looks like a fun goal. If you wait a few years, you’d have a nephew willing to go with you. D is all about adventurous exploration these days…
July 14th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
From what I’ve looked at it doesn’t seem like you need anything extravagant. It also looks like you can break the climb up over 2 days by staying in Little Yosemite Valley. I’m tempted to pick up the book about the hike.