Group Hiking Half Dome in Yosemite

Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to earn the Yosemite badge of honor- "I Made it To the Top of Half Dome" t-shirt. My mom had always promised to hike it with me one day. She passed away and it never happened. I doubt it would have happened anyway- she's terrified of heights. I'm less scared but still quite terrified. This is actually my most favorite hike I've ever done- it's by far the most beautiful I've encountered thus far in my life. Chris and I hiked to the top of Half a couple years prior. After seeing our trip, our friends wanted to make the trek as well. So we spent months organizing group hikes to get people in shape for the long climb up the mountain. It can be done as a multi-day hike if you're into backpacking (you can camp at Little Yosemite Valley). We chose to do it as a day hike since none of us have backpacking experience in the wilderness. It's a 14-16mile hike round trip with an elevation change of 4800ft. If you set a good pace, you can get it done in 12 hours. I think Chris and I, as a pair, did it in about 13 hours. As a group, it took us much longer- probably closer to 15 hours. We lugged all our own water up and down with us, we didn't use purifiers.

So, this trip, me, Chris and nine of our friends camped at Crane "Slant" (we renamed it) inside the park for four days. (If you're able to snag reservations, camp in the Valley floor at the campgrounds or in the tent cabins at Curry Village). On our second day seven of us hiked up Half Dome. Miraculously we ALL made it and no one died (WIN), and we got some badass photos on the diving board. The third day we had planned to hike to Carlon Falls, but somehow ended up on the wrong trail. Fail. So we drove to Tenaya Lake instead. The last day we bought our badges of honor ("Made it to the Top!" t-shirts... I totally geeked out and bought hella shit) and hung out at the Merced River at Billy's favorite spot. All in all, a bad ass camping trip.

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Trip Length: 3 days
Blog Entries: 1
Photos: 110
Words: 1578

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Blog Entries

Date	Blog Title	Location
July 13th 2010	We Made it to the Top!	North America » United States » California » Yosemite National Park