Friday
On today's menu, Upper Yosemite trail. We tried to get permits for the Half-Dome to no avail. Access to the last piece of the Half-Dome trail is limited to a given number of people a day. You either get your permit months in advance or you try your luck with the lottery 2 days before your hike... I guess I'll have to come back a 3rd time in Yosemite! Today's hike is far from easy though. It's one of the oldest trail in the park with a steady diet of switchbacks and stairs dug in the mountain. Also, we have to bring food and water for the day since there's nothing but nature up there.
Once our canteens filled, the sandwich prepared and the cameras packed, we hop on the bus that goes around the valley to get to the trail head. There's no warm up phase on that trail, it gets serious right away with switchback stairs in the forest. An hour later we're above the forest and get our first view of the valley. We're struggling with our rhythm at the beginning and Mar even consider turning back at some point. We decide to slow down a bit and force ourselves to walk a different pace... and it works. We're, after all, hurried New-Yorkers, used to walk fast and all the previous hikes were quite flat compared to this. It's much harder here and the trick is simply to... take your time shockingly.
We've been walking for 2 hours when we get our first view of the falls. It's early in the season so the flow is still more than decent. The bottom of the falls has its customary rainbow to bait us into taking pictures. We oblige of course. It's a good spot for a quick break anyway. Right after that, the trail is rather flat with little ups … and down, which triggers some acerbic comments from my partner who does not appreciate to go down while trying to climb the damn mountain :D This section ends shortly after and we're left facing a wall. We're against the cliff with switchback stairs as far as the eye can see. It'll take us 2 hours. It's by far the most difficult section of the whole hike. The gruesome switchbacks turn into a nice little trail in the forest (with shade!!!) leading us to the falls themselves. If you’re not scared of heights, you can see the falls from very close. To do so, we hop from rock to rock, helped by handrails placed strategically. It’s kind of scary with the valley right in front of us… 900m below our feet and accompanied by the deafening roar of the falls. The view is worth the scare though; it almost felt like Angel’s landing.
We have the area for ourselves for some time and decide to leave when another group arrives. The way back up is much easier :D We look for a place to eat and rest and find it close to the river. We’re not so close to the falls but the current is already very strong here; it’s perfect for a free foot massage in the cold water. It took us 4 hours to get here; even though we know we’ll be faster going down, it’s already 2pm and we really don’t want to finish that hike by night. As expected the way down is faster. Our knees and quads don’t enjoy it that much but it’ll take us only 2h30 to be back to the trail head. The big advantage of going downhill is that you get to enjoy the view much more than going up :D We still have energy and daylight so we decide to have a look at the Lower Yosemite trail on our way back to the camp. We take a short break before going and Mar decides to eat the 2nd half of her sandwich. It takes only a few seconds for a bird to land right in front of her, asking for a piece of it. Magnanimous, she’ll share a few pieces of ham with the bird. Lower Yosemite trail is very close, but there’s not much to it. It’s super crowded and not at all impressive… We don’t linger and head back home. Stats of the day: 800m in difference in height, 6h35 walking, 1h resting… a full day of vacation!