Hiking to the top of the half-dome, Yosemite park

Hello,

15 years ago, while I was a postdoc in California, near San Francisco, I did several hikes in the surrounding national parks and spent several weekends there (mostly Yosemite, Lassen and Sequoya parks... and some others in the Bay Area).

Here I will show a few pictures from the hike I did to the top of the half-dome in Yosemite park. Everything was recorded thanks to my first digital camera (not a dslr which was too expansive at that time but a sony cybershot). All photos are mine although a few were taken during other hikes... you don't get a nice view of the half-dome from the half-dome hike...

It was a 17 miles hike, in sandals (walking one... and yes I was the only one equipped that way :p ) but actually the main concern was rather water supply... At that time, I had only a few bottles and a camel bag with a pouch, I bought after an incident in another park a filter to make drinkable water from any water later on but didn't have it yet.

The journey started in the valley where I met a deer. It is always funny for an European (I think) to come to a place where animals don't run away as soon as they smell you. This is definitely the kind of close encounter I couldn't do in France for example... (or may-be marmots in some part of the Alps, because tourists tend to feed them and they get overweighted, so yeah... they don't run anymore...)

This photos were taken on the way to the top and to the emerald pool which sit at the top of a waterfall

Here a first view of the water fall, it was in August, so there wasn't much water left...

And it was quite warm, so the squirrel wasn't stupid enough, unlike the human, to go into the sun... ;)

Few other shots of the waterfall on the way to the emeral pool, where there wasn't that much water, actually I remember to have taken a swim there during another hike (although it seems to be forbidden...)

passed the Emerald water pool, and as I started to gain altitude, we can now see a nice view over the sierra nevada and the yosemite valley

Here a view of the Half-Dome (left mountain)... I think it was taken before arriving to the Emerald Pool (so I screwed a bit the chronological order there...)

Here almost at the before the final ascension (hmmm... actually most likely after... usually my prirority is rather getting to the top, then having a photo...). So you get here 3/2 dome (my name being Dom ;) ) Yeah the shoes... Actually it is pretty ok and I used sandals for doing many hikes... actually I stopped using it as one day, I hit pretty hard a tree root... and yeah that's how I discover that sandals may have inconvenient too.... but it was at least 3 or 4 years after that hike...

And this is how you climb to the top: you pick up a pair of gloves (there are plenty, you don't have to bring any) and you "climb" to the top. This is a pretty steep part, the photo doesn't show that much how steep it is...

Once on the top, you can start doing some photos... this is in kinda of a cliché

Few other view over the Sierra Nevada

The valley

El capitan (I guess, don't remember for sure)

And back down to the valley, because of water concern, I didn't stay really on the top as I didn't want to drink too much of the water I had left (unfortunately)

And to finish another view over the half-dome, from yet another hike

I hope you enjoyed the trip well 17miles isn't that long... Actually the hike isn't that hard it is of course a bit long but there is no big difficulties, the trail is well maintained.

Don't forget to upvote if you enjoyed the trip, I might post a few other hike ;)

Thanks for watching,

Djm34