We left home in Lancaster, California at 6:00 AM on a Tuesday morning. After a five hour trip we arrived at Bridalveil Creek Campsite, 7,000 feet above sea level. Bridalveil Creek is located just south of Glacier Point, which is on the south wall of Yosemite Valley at an elevation of 7,214 feet. The point offers a beautiful view of Yosemite National Park, including Yosemite Falls, Half Dome, and Nevada Falls.
We unpacked the car, set up our tents, and made sure that every scrap of food we had carted with us got stuffed into one of the bear cans. I only had to see one video of a big black bear peeling the roof off a car just so it could grab a candy bar to understand the value of the armor plated boxes that the National Park Service provides. They are quite roomy and we had no trouble packing two ice chests and a bunch of other boxes into it.
Once everything was in order, the whole group of us took a short ten minute drive from the camp up the road to the trail head for Sentinel Do
Part of the trail is uphill (after all, we were climbing a mountain) and a couple of our companions dropped out early. But my wife and children continued without any trouble, though we couldn’t help but notice that some storm clouds were gathering from the east, blotting out some of the clear blue sky.
On we went. Soon, the sky rumbled with the first clash of thunder. We marched on. A wonderful cool breeze kicked up, a pleasant respite from the hot ninety degree day.
More thunderclaps followed. The sky turned black. By the ti
We started walking back. The sprinkles became just plain rain. We quickened our step. The rain came down harder. It was a warm rain. In fact, my children, my wife, and I actually enjoyed it. But the hail ca
Within ten minutes, the temperature dropped twenty degrees. By the ti
Two days later it was ti
Arising at
It was, according to what we were told after the hike, the war
The hike back from Half Dome was a nine mile trek down to the valley floor at Little Yosemite. That’s where my wife was waiting to pick us all up. I made a mistake that year in purchasing cheap hiking boots. Although they had been serviceable on previous short, five mile hikes, they were not up to the task of a 19 mile death march. The last three miles from Half Dome were all steeply downhill and my right knee started to hurt. Each step was excruciating, but I pushed on since I didn’t really want to spend the rest of my life in the wilderness.
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