Yosemite (Part 3): Half Dome — A twist of fate
Of all the activities in Yosemite, the one that gets the most attention online is the hike up Half Dome. A social media favorite, it is often labeled as “One of the most dangerous hikes in the US,” and largely contributed to how it landed on my bucket list. But, as I wrote in Part 1 of this series, it appeared as if hiking Half Dome was not meant to be on my trip to the park this year. You see, the hike requires a permit, and I learned in April that I was not selected for one in the lottery. The only other ways to do it would be via a daily lottery or by taking the chance of hiking up to Sub Dome where permits are checked and hoping to find someone with an extra spot on theirs who will bring you along. But as I approached my Yosemite trip, I spent countless hours with ChatGPT perfecting an itinerary that almost certainly did not leave time to spend a day taking that chance. I had two rest days baked in that I would very likely need among my four climbing days and the nighttime hike up Cloud’s Rest for sunrise. Sure, I still brought the gear I would need for Half Dome – since I bought it before I found out I didn’t land a permit – but that was only in the event fate stepped in.
Yosemite (Part 2): Clouds Rest – A lesson in fear and preparation
It’s about 3:30 AM, and I am two and a half miles into a nighttime hike to the summit of Clouds Rest – one of the highest accessible hiking destinations in Yosemite – when my iPhone screen completely froze. And I am all alone. My iPhone was my map for this hike in the dark. It kept me on the path. Already, I had deviated from it briefly, only to see on the AllTrails app that I needed to walk back 30 paces to get on course. The app got me back to the right path – when it was working. In this moment, I paused and cracked a smile. This wasn’t the first time this happened to my phone – although it rarely does. The last time was about six months ago, and as I had always done, I googled how to force restart an iPhone. It’s hard to remember – quickly press the volume up, then the volume down, and then a long press of the side button. But as I prepared for my Yosemite trip and the prospect of hiking alone through the night in darkness, I knew I needed to memorize the force restart – just in case it happened during the trip when there was no cell reception or internet. And now it did! I only slightly cracked a smile because I not only needed my phone to restart, but I needed AllTrails to start back up and resume tracking my hike. If it didn’t, I’d have to abandon the hike. Not only would I certainly miss my goal of reaching the summit for sunrise, but I could not safely navigate the rest of the trail. But after the restart, everything worked! The app was back up and running, and I was on track for the summit at sunrise . . .