Days 88-91 Yosemite Valley

Day 88- zero

We had a nice a relaxing morning drinking espresso and doing laundry. Kiki has a friend in the valley, Haile, who borrowed tubes for us. So in the afternoon Rocky, Haile, Kiki and I all went tubing down the Merced River that flows along the center of the valley. It was so beautiful & cool to see the valley from the river. It sprinkled a bit at the start and was generally pretty cloudy but it was such a fun time. After the river we got some food from the grocery store and went to the park where we met some of Rocky’s clinic friends for a pride party. 

There was supposed to be a bunch of thru hikers coming but they never showed up and eventually we went back to the backpackers campground where all the thru hikers were partying with glow sticks. We joined for a bit until quite hours then went to bed. 

Day 89- zero

We got biscuits & gravy and some coffee then did some climbing. Rocky was supposed to leave that day but she was convinced to stay to take part. We did a couple fun routes and didn’t make it back to camp until late.

Day 90-zero

Our trail angel from Big Bear, Sami, came up to do some climbing. We made breakfast with her then we chilled by the river for the hot part of the day overlooking half dome. A one year old bear came up to us and was forging for ants.

Rocky was really going to leave that day but she waited until the afternoon. She would be hiking out of the valley instead of hitching back to the trail, adding some extra mileage. She got a permit to do half dome so would be up there for sunrise in the morning. Kiki and I were also interested in doing half dome so we told her we might see her up there. We did a bit of climbing in the evening then had dinner with Sami before going to bed.

Day 91- zero (but actually 17 miles)

Kiki and I woke up and started walking by 3am. The trail up to half dome from the valley is 8 miles and 4000 feet of elevation. We took a trail called the mist trail which passes by a couple water falls and you get pretty soaked from their mist. It was super neat doing it at night and just seeing the water but nothing else around. It was such a steep trail, I was dying to keep up with Kiki. We were trying to go as fast as we could because we didn’t have permits and were hoping to beat the rangers up there. They don’t check until right below half dome so there was always the chance that we did basically all the miles and elevation but then don’t get to do the cables and go all the way to the top.

The cables are a really steep stretch of trail over slick granite rock with cables and pieces of wood as protection to get up to the top of half dome. We ended up making it up there in 3 hours with no ranger in sight. The cables were quite scary but I just took it really slow and went from one wooden plank to the next.

We were up there a bit after sunrise but found Rocky up there. I had heard back from someone about a highline in the area and that convinced Rocky to come back to the valley so she could get on her first highline! We stayed up there a while before beginning our descent. 

We got back down to the valley, packed up our things from the campground and went to recharge at a coffee/deli. We then went to relax by the river until it had cooled off enough. A girl I had been in contact with about the highline was able to pick us up and took us to the highline. It was awesome to get back on the line and to help Rocky get on her first line! We camped up there for the night.