The cables are down in the off-season. Grab your harness, tie a Prusik knot, and come along for the adventure with my cousin Chad and me as we climb all the way to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. What a spectacular view!! Normally it is almost shoulder-to-shoulder going up to the summit. But our good fortune had it so that we were on top of Half Dome all by ourselves. It was incredible.
Have you ever wanted to stand at the top? Well, come along with us and you can. We'll start driving into the park when it is still dark and we won't get back to the car until long after it is pitch black, so this will be an all-day adventure. But for you, it'll only take 10 minutes lol.
After Labor Day, the park removes the wooden supports that turn the cables into handrails. This is the "off-season" when the cables hang loosely against the face of the sheer granite. You have to carefully use a climbing harness with a Prusik knot that will slide along the cable, but will immediately catch and hold if you slip.
We hiked 19.5 miles from parking lot to parking lot and ascended 4,800 feet in elevation gain. It took us 5 hours to get to the cables (about 30m per mile and nearly 960ft EG per hour), and with the rain delay and the climb, it took a total of 6 hours until we started heading back down. It took us less than 4 hours to get back to the car, which is to be expected going downhill (about 24m per mile).
Mist Falls Trail was closed on the way up, so we had to take the long-way-around detour on the John Muir Trail, for which we ended up being thankful because it was gradual and a good start to the day. On top of that, Mist Falls Trail was open on the return and it was steep down and fast going. Gradual and steady for the climb, fast and steep for the descent: exactly the combination of hiking that I like :)
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