California, 2017

Vernal Falls

Another successful, semi-annual California summit of Sarah, Michele, and Laura is in the books! We spent 2.5 days in Yosemite hiking (including climbing Half Dome) and driving around the park, and 2.5 days in the Monterey area drinking wine, visiting the aquarium, and eating tons of delicious food. Here are a few highlights and photos.

Half Dome Village

View from Half Dome Village

On Tuesday, Sarah flew into LA from NY, where Michele picked her up and they drove 4.5ish hours to the Fresno airport, where I arrived. Then we drove a couple hours (but surprisingly few miles) to Yosemite National Park. We booked a tent with four cot-beds on a wooden floor, nestled in a colony of identical semi-permanent shelters in the Half Dome Village. We arrived a little before dinner time, so we dropped our bags and toured around our little colony. There were hundreds of tents next to a little center with a souvenir shop, grocery store, pizza place, buffet restaurant, and bar.

We had a quick dinner and got ready for an early bedtime. We were going to get up around 5 am for the Half Dome hike, estimating it would take us anywhere from 10 to 14 hours. We met a girl in the bathroom who did it in 10 hours, which instilled a tiny bit of optimism, but she also appeared to be in much better shape than us.

Wednesday morning the alarms were blaring, but we were moving pretty slowly. It was too early for the park shuttle (or breakfast, but Michele brought coffee), so we had to walk almost a mile from camp to the trail head. We started on the trail by 6:30, and it was gorgeous. Towering green trees (I can't tell tree species, sorry) soaring around us, soft dirt surrounding our paved path, a creek babbling by, little woodland creatures scurrying. But then it quickly became steep, and didn't stop for a couple hours. We passed two waterfalls and then slowly plateaued out. We had "lunch" at 9:30 in a nice meadow area by the river where people who don't bring enough water restock their camelbaks on the way down. (Tip if you want to hike Half Dome: I had a 3-liter generic camelbak and a 1-liter Nalgene, which was the exact amount of water one person needs. I also had hiking poles, gloves for the cables, a visor and sunscreen, and plenty of food.)

On the Mist Trail

Cables!

Shortly after lunch (PB&J and trail mix) we got to the second uphill push, which consisted of a bunch of switchbacks for about an hour. Then we came out to a nice, flat vista where we could see Half Dome, and people climbing up the terrifying cables strapped to the side of the rock face. It's way too steep to just hike up, so the park installed cable handrails that you use to pull yourself up the rock face for the final 400 or so feet. My palms started sweating looking at it.

Then we had a bit of gradual uphill before the "granite stairs," also known as the "sub-dome," which is the last uphill push before the cables. It was about 30 minutes of granite steps in switchbacks, and then an expanse of open dome face, but at a low enough grade that you just lean in and walk up it. There's no trail or anything, but the peak of Half Dome is right there, so you just aim for it.

Top of Half Dome

And then we got to a little dip in the terrain. We had completed the sub-dome and were staring at Half Dome. It was a flat reprieve, except that you were walking toward the cables, and you could see the people scurrying up them. All of my pores started sweating. I'm terrified of heights, and this was a doozy. But Michele and I charged forward valiantly (Sarah decided she had enough just before the end of the sub-dome), bracing for the inevitable. We already hiked straight up for almost 7 hours. Of course this shit was happening.

We both knew to bring gloves (anyone considering it: BRING GLOVES. There's a pile of gloves left by other hikers at the base of the cables, but I wouldn't depend on them), so we pulled them out and slid them on our hands like warriors of old preparing for battle. We left our hiking poles at the base of the cables but carried our backpacks with us for water.

Yosemite Falls

Mish and I conferred at the base of the cables and decided I would go first. I walked up, put one hand on each cable (imagine a narrow stairwell, where the railings are thin cables and the steps are wooden planks 10 feet apart and 10 feet straight up and everything else is a rock face steeply leading off to your death), and went for it. It wasn't difficult in the beginning because it wasn't too steep yet. Just step, step, cable, cable, and boom, you're at the first wooden plank. But then it got steeper, and we caught up to a girl having a panic attack on the way up who caused a traffic jam for people trying to go down (did I mention up and down traffic share the same narrow cable staircase?), and it got a little hairier. But I shocked myself by not freaking out about the heights. I was able to chill and look around at each wooden plank I had to stop at, while also encouraging the girl in front of me. It took us much longer than it should have to get to the top, but panic-attack girl made it too and I'm glad I didn't devolve into one of those assholes who yelled at her about keeping it moving so they could go. Slow and steady wins the race for everyone. 

We made it to the top, and stumbled our way toward the edge of Half Dome. As always with these sorts of things, it was anti-climatic. I never get a rush of satisfaction at reaching a peak. I never imagine ticker tape raining down upon me. It's a sweaty, exhausting, drained moment in which I say, "Cool. I'm here." I feel the satisfaction of a hike when I'm at the bottom, looking back up at where I've come from. So Michele and I drank some water, took some photos, and I headed back down as an unchanged human.

But here's the crazy thing. Going down the cables was AMAZING! It was so much fun. I felt like I was at an amusement park. It looked awful on the way up, but on the way down it was a ride. I held each cable in my corresponding hand and slid down Half Dome, stopping when I needed to let people going up pass. It was the best part of the hike, hands down. Super fun.

Fish Hopper on Cannery Row, Monterey

Then we got back to the sub-dome and we had 5+ hours of downhill until we were back at camp. I'll spare you the details because it's like every time I go downhill: awful, painful, grumpy, nothing worth reading about. We made it back to camp after 13 hours. Much worse than the super-fit, friendly girl in the bathroom, but much better than everyone who didn't make it to the top. Overall it was about 15 miles. We took the Mist Trail up (which is steeper but shorter and takes you closer to the waterfalls) and the Muir Trail down (which is longer but has less extreme downhills).

Monterey Aquarium

We were all hobbled and sore, but we made it to the village square for food and celebratory drinks. And then a loooong night of sleep.

I'm going to breeze through the rest of the trip, not because it was less interesting, but because the hike was the formative lynch pin of the trip. And because I got carsick and puked twice on the ride from Yosemite to Monterey and no one needs to read that.

The day after the Half Dome hike, Michele drove us around Yosemite. We saw Yosemite Falls and various other parts of the park. That night we had dinner at our village and took the shuttle to the fancy hotel for drinks.

Sunset, sisters, wine

Vineyards

Lover's Point, Monterey (great for reading)

Big Sur

Andrew Molera Park, Big Sur

The next day we headed out of the park (which always takes a long time) toward Monterey, arriving in time for dinner overlooking the water at what the hostess said was the best table in the restaurant (why she gave it to us will always be a mystery). We went back to our adorable AirBnB for wine and board games. The next day we did the 17-mile drive through Pebble Beach to Carmel, and hit up some wine-tasting rooms in Carmel. We drove out to the Carmel Valley to a couple of tasting rooms and then drove back to town (Mish was being a very good sport and being our driver). Then it was a sunset drink on the beach, another awesome seafood dinner, more board games, and bed. The next day we went to the aquarium, which is so much more expensive than I expected but I'm happy to pay it. Our rental house provided 2 free passes, but it was still $50 for the third admission. Worth it, because they do so much education and conservation work as well. Go to the aquarium!

Big Sur

Sarah and Mish drove out to more wineries that afternoon, but I wanted to walk to the beach with my book and relax. Everyone got what they wanted, and we met up for dinner later at the fantastic Red House. The next day we had breakfast at the Red House again because it was so good, dropped Sarah off at the airport, and Mish and I drove toward Big Sur. The town is still cutoff because of the mudslide, but we were able to do a little beach walk and see some beautiful sights before it was time for me to go to the tiny Monterey airport for my long flights home.

Bixby Creek Bridge, Big Sur