'Bent's course finished yesterday and we stayed one extra day in Yosemite. All week, the forecast for the weekend was heavy rain with a winter storm warning at higher elevations. Roads were closed in anticipation of The Storm - but it didn't come. There was a little rain overnight then the mist burned off and it became sunny and chilly - perfect for hiking.
We got on the trail behind our hotel to do the big climb to the top of Upper Yosemite Falls.
This would be the first part; after that, we would travel on the plateau to North Dome, a summit that sits directly across from Half Dome.
This is the oldest trail in the Park, originally built in the 1870s. Some of the climb was rocky, technical and potentially ankle-turning.
We got close to Upper Yosemite Falls, which doesn't have much water at this time of year.
There were great views of our destination. North Dome is the round summit on the left side of the photo facing Half Dome.
We got up to the plateau and it was spectacular.
Our first stop was Outlook Point, which is accessed by a jumble of rocks and stone steps next to a steep drop-off. It should be avoided by anyone with acrophobia. This was our first snack break.
Fortunately, there were railings on the narrowest parts.
We continued toward Yosemite Point. We were in high country now; 'Bent said the scenery reminded him of his backpacking trip on the John Muir Trail. The trail was sometimes indistinct. I hadn't imagined it would be possible to get lost on a signed trail in such a popular park on a clear, sunny day but in open, rocky areas, we often had to search for the route. We were surprised there were no cairns or other markings. It wasn't super difficult on a day with perfect visibility but not all days are like that.
After Yosemite Point, we entered the forest for awhile. Some of it had been burnt in a fire. After the initial climb, it was easy hiking but there were rolling hills.
At last we saw our goal, the smooth summit of North Dome. It looks like it's just ahead of us but we had to make a sharp left turn at this point and take a circuitous, down-and-up route through the forest.
We took a long break on North Dome to eat snacks, stare at the views, take photos and tease ravens.
The star of the show is Half Dome but it looks spectacular in every direction.
We had the choice of continuing forward to Mirror Lake and back to the Village, which would be longer and repeat some of yesterday's route. Since our hike to this point had been so terrific, we decided to go back the way we came. First though, we climbed higher on Indian Ridge, the partially treed dome seen in this photo.
From there, we got an even better view of Half Dome and surrounding peaks, including North Dome, the little bump on the right. The altitude was close to 2500 m (8200 ').
There had been wisps of cloud all day but now there were a lot more. We wondered if a storm might be on its way after all. This wouldn't be a good place to get caught. After taking this photo, I googled the weather and confirmed that nothing had changed.
The light was changing for the better because the angle of the sun was lower. Hmm. Lower. I glanced at my watch - 3 p.m. already. We'd taken 4 hrs 15 mins to hike to North Dome with lots of photo stops, then we'd spent 90 minutes in the area. We hadn't seen anyone for 4 hours.
Sunset was at 6 p.m. so we only had 3 hours to get back to the top of Upper Yosemite Falls and down the rocky trail to the valley, almost a vertical kilometre below. That seemed reasonable. We wouldn't take as many photos on the way back and it was a net downhill so we should be able to save an hour if we hurried.
Then we remembered: sunset was at 6 p.m. *last* night. Tonight it would be 5 p.m. because the clocks had changed. So we had 2 hours to retrace the steps of our 4+ hour hike. Oops.
We had a couple of hiking maps but they weren't topo maps so I didn't have faith we could use them to find the indistinct trail sections on the plateau in the dark or heavy fog. There were a lot of cliffs if we got off track. We wanted to get to the top of Upper Yosemite Falls before dark because we couldn't lose the trail after that, even though it would be tough to negotiate at night.
We had emergency headlamps and were moderately well equipped if we got stuck out for the night but we needed to leave for the airport at 5 a.m. so this wasn't a good time to practise our Survivorman skills.
So we ran - so much for taking care of my foot injury. It got foggy for awhile, which made things interesting but we made it back to the top of the waterfall before sunset.
Suddenly, we were back in civilization. A couple was standing near the brink of the falls; the guy was wearing shorts at 5C just before sunset. We called over to see if they had a headlamp. They seemed unconcerned. This was a continuing theme. After our mad dash, we met half a dozen people still coming up on the trail. We reminded all of them that sunset was imminent since most of them weren't carrying much. I'll bet a few people came down that rocky trail by smartphone flashlight.
We ran and speed-hiked to the bottom, arriving 25 minutes after sunset, just at the moment when we would have needed to turn on our headlamps. As we walked across the grass toward our hotel, I turned to give 'Bent a congratulatory hug and sprained my ankle. Good times. :)
[Time deducted for long lunch stop but other photo stops are included]