I woke up around 5:00, ate a quick snack, and took for the summit of Cloud's Rest. The final push was much easier in the morning light. I left my bivy at 5:13 and was on the summit at 5:18. Can't beat that! I found Tourist and Clark Kent just waking up. They were definitely surprised to see me. No Wash Out, so I assumed I had passed him the night before.
The three of us hung out on the summit for several hours. It was beautiful. Tourist played his harmonica and I ate some more food. Around 9:00, we motivated to head toward Half Dome. We didn't have to backtrack but instead descended the "front" side of Cloud's Rest.
I didn't have a permit for Half Dome and stuck to the trail system in hope of scalping a permit from someone coming down, but Tourist and Clark Kent were all set and did a back country traverse over to the base of the route. We planned to rendezvous there and ascend the cables to the summit together. The hiking was quick. I got back on the JMT for a short distance and then ditched most of the contents of my pack at the Half Dome turn-off.
Once on the Half Dome trail, I ran into a ton of day hikers heading both directions. Unfortunately, they informed me that there was a ranger at the base of the route checking permits electronically. The trip leader's picture ID was also required. Not wanting to risk getting fined, I turned back after asking some other hikers to let Tourist know he could find me in Yo Valley.
On my way down, I thought to ask the hikers I met heading up whether they had space on their permits. I was in luck! I met a super nice family of three with a permit for four, and they were more than willing to let me jump on board. Yay! I turned around and started up again and got to the base of the route just as Tourist and Clark Kent were arriving. Perfect timing.
Tourist and Clark Kent checked in with the ranger, and then we ate lunch while we waited for my "family" to arrive. I was desperate for some chocolate and traded Clark Kent a beer for a Snickers bar. The climb was great. The cables were definitely a little chaotic, but we made it up and down without problems.
I met Wash Out on the way down and was quite glad to see he made it. He didn't have a permit either, but the ranger made a thru-hiker exception and let him by. I waited for him at the first water I passed on the way down, and we hiked the rest of the way into Yo Valley together.
We took a free shuttle into Curry Village for pizza and beer and spent most of the night parked on the deck of the community building. We finally stumbled to the backpackers' campground around 1:00.
Off to bed now!
No comments:
Post a Comment