Cloud's Rest and on to Campsite 3
Next morning under clear skies and warm breezes we packed up all we had and headed to the top.
Looking back the way we came, it's 11 miles back to the Valley.
Within a few minutes of the "top", we met two friends hiking up from Tenaya Lake, Monica and Holly. Coming from Brisbane Australia and visiting a friend in San Diego, what a great way to see a bit of the wilderness by trekking in Sierra backcountry!
Ann had passed us on the way up, so now we trade picture taking duty.
Gord legging it to the top with a leaning load
Jackie at the ridgeline. Ride 'em Cowgirl...
Looking back along the ridge. It's a few feet wide, and only a few thousand feet dropoff on either side.
Ever seen a mountain top Marmot drag a backpack? It only takes a few seconds if you're not careful!
Taking a few minutes to sightsee and relax, we meet and start talking to Holly and Sam. They're on their honeymoon with afew days to go, and are hoping to move up to Canada in a couple of years. There's very good hiking in British Columbia as well.
Half Dome is further away than it looks. It's also more than 100 storeys (1000 feet) lower than Cloud's Rest.
In this telephoto shot you can see the line that the cables follow up to the top. The lighter color of the rock is due to climber's scrubbing the rock with their feet. From the sub-dome or "Shoulder", it's a 40 storey climb up to the top. More on that later in our trip...
Now we start heading downtrail. It's a few miles to go, and we want to get well set up at the next campsite before it gets dark.
The late afternoon weather is just gorgeous, along with the views of the Catherdral and Clark Ranges. As we descend below the tree line, we hear the close-by hooting of owls wayyyy up in the trees. Replies come from two directions.
Several years ago David and I had a great campsite along this trail down nearer the Half Dome turnoff. Having an idea where it was, we trekked and trekked. It started getting dark. We started getting tired. Finally, in the general area, we pitched our tent just as it got really dark. Without any great concern, the deer who wandered in near our tent just moved off a bit and continued grazing. It felt really good to lie down. This is campsite 3 the next morning.
As we continue down the trail past the Pinnacles, Half Dome starts looming up. Trail-wise, we have to descend back to the junction before turning up the spur trail to get there. Today's Wednesday, and a work party is getting the cable posts set upright ready for business Friday first thing. The trail of the cables is clear.
