Day 29 - Yosemite - Ascent to Half Dome

We started our day very early at 5 o clock because there was an one-hour drive to the trailhead. The hike finally started at 6:30 in nice coolness and beautiful quietness and light. After 30 min we reached the bottom of the lower waterfall and 2 hours later we had reached the back country campground where dad and Wolfi M. had been visited in the tent by a bear at night 19 years earlier. It was getting hotter and hotter. After 4 hour we had our lunch break in the last available shadow, which dad needed to recharge the batteries as he was carrying the big backpack with all food and all water. The top of half dome was reached in 5.5 hours after the strenuous almost vertical ladder to heaven (274 m altitude gain). The view at the top was worth every bit of effort. We had only 2 l of water left and the weather started to look shaky in the east thus we stayed only 15 min at the top. The ladder to heaven down was a bit trickier especially due to the enormous traffic – up to 1000 people climb the half dome per day. The way back down was long and hot – we had to refill the water bottles in the little Yosemite river (and take a 30 min foot bath) – and ugly due to the granite stairs we enjoyed on the way up as well as the unbelievable amount of sandal-tourists along the lower waterfall trail. We reached the car in 4:45 pm. As a reward both got a yosemite T shirt and lots to drink. Then we set off to reach San Francisco asap, after picking up some cloths we forgot in the morning. We arrived in SF around 10pm.