This week marks the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. To commemorate, I took a trip to Yosemite and hiked 16 miles to summit Half Dome.
It's as crazy as it sounds. My friends and I started at the break of dawn. We embarked on the Mist Trail and hiked up two waterfalls, Vernal and Nevada Falls, all while carrying a gallon of water on our backs. The views were amazing all the way. We passed by the woods, sand, water, wild animals, until we eventually hit Sub Dome. Nearly the entire hike was uphill climbing, so our legs were tired by the time we got to the cables.
Even though we trained, bought equipment and did our research, climbing the cables to Half Dome was no joke. Although I had a tremendous fear of heights, it didn't bother me as much because I was concentrating on hanging on to the metal cable. The longer you have to hold on, the tired your arms will be. Pulling myself up and climbing up was the most exhilarating and craziest thing I have ever done.
It was an awesome experience. Although there were fellow hikers who decided not to ascend to the top, being on the cables itself was a great bonding moment. The people who you share the same resting plank with have the same goals of making it down safe. It doesn't matter where you came from, how much you make, and what you looked like. There's something about being on Half Dome that strips us away from all external elements right down to our human goal of survival. We're all just trying to get to the same place.
