July 23 - Slab climbing

Base of El Capitan

Jerrold getting ready to lead (not El Capitan)

Practice Slab

Yosemite Slab on Top Rope

July 22 - Mist Trail

We pack up and get ready for our last 6 miles. We head down to Yosemite Valley via the Mist Trail.

The water falls are beautiful - supposedly from record snow melt this year. It becomes a zoo of tourists as we approach the valley. We learn that 3 hikers fell over Vernal falls a couple days earlier.

Nevada Falls - top

Nevada Falls - bottom

Vernal Falls

Trails End - we did about 32 km

Mission Accomplished - way below Half Dome

We pig out on junk food when we get to the village.

Time for greasy food and BEER!

It takes another 3 hours to recover the minivan from the trailhead. We setup our last camp in the dark.

View from Olmstead Point with most of route visible

July 21 - HALF DOME!

We wake up surrounded by mountains with mule deer walking around the campsite. We eat a quick breakfast and do some stretching and are on the path to Half Dome by 9am.

Morning exercise - Rock, Paper, Splits

The path is pretty much all uphill. There are loads of people on the trail. Some of them have started as early as 4:30 am from the valley - about 6 miles below. We move slow and steady keeping pace with many of the larger groups and older hikers.

Base of Sub Dome

When we finally summit sub-dome and see the cables up to Half dome - it is truly an amazing site. None of the pictures I`ve seen show the beauty, nor the scale, nor the steepness of the climb to the top.

Steep climb up Sub Dome

Evangeline gets on all fours to climb the high steps

Summit of Sub-Dome

"We're so excited!!"

Abbie and the boys make quick work of the climb - it's not too hard with the cables and 2x4 planks to assist you. I put a harness on Evangeline and we work our way up slowly. She is fine for about the first half - then the steepness of it starts to freak her out. It isn't long before she's crying out loud to go down - though she continues to climb up on her own. She is a real trooper. She gets lots of motivation from other climbers going up and down the cables. It's a relief when we finally make it to the top. People are quite amazed that a 7yr old made it to the top - especially since many others turned around too scared to climb up. She takes the spotlight away from her 10 and 15yr old brothers who made it up with no problems or safety gear.

Going up the cables (the boys are already 30 ft ahead)

It`s very steep!

But we make it!!

Summit of Half Dome - 8842 ft
(Cloud`s Rest in background)

We snack and relax at the top - taking pictures at the "Diving Board" and exploring some of the caves at the top. It's an impressive feeling to have 5000 ft of shear drop below you.

Sitting atop the Diving Board

Caves atop Half Dome

The trip down is just as easy for the boys and just as scary for Evangeline. She cries almost the entire way down - but she makes it down all on her own. I support her but don't assist her. We do create quite a backlog of climbers going up and down. It is a bit freaky to see lost water bottles and hats sliding down beside us.

We make it back to camp around 3:30. We could make it back down to the valley by night fall, but we are all pretty exhausted and decide to camp in the same spot for an extra night. We build a fire and have a late lunch/early dinner. It's time to relax and enjoy the sunset in the mountains and the star-filled night sky. We have a very isolated campsite with an amazing view - I could easily stay here for another week.

Time to eat and relax...

July 20 - Cloud's Rest

We hike about 2 miles and climb another 1000 ft to Cloud's Rest.

Jerrold in his element - Tenaya Lake starting point behind him

Snow arch - should we go under?

Evangeline contemplating the climb up Cloud's Rest

Exposed summit hike to Cloud's Rest peak - Half Dome below

It's a beautiful 360deg vista.
We can see Half Dome below us and Tenaya lake behind us with the deep Tenaya Canyon leading to Yosemite Valley below.

Wen's on Cloud's Rest (9926 ft)

One empty Powerade = room for 3 beers!

Another 4 miles takes us to the bottom of Half Dome where we setup camp for the night.

About half way down (Cloud's Rest in background)

Camp 2 below Half Dome

We are averaging about 1 mile/hour hiking. The kids are all doing great, though their shoes are all falling apart. We'll need to get new shoes after the trip. Evangeline's entire sole of her shoe is flapping off.

"I'll suffer for my kids..."

"My dad's the best!!"

July 19 - Yosemite

We arrive in Yosemite Tioga pass around 4:30am PT. (gained another bonus hour!) Tioga Pass road is only seasonally open - and usually only opens around mid-july. We are lucky that the road is open otherwise it's a LONG way around. The Yosemite park entrance @ Tioga pass is at 10000 ft and there's still snow all around. The cold air is a shock after coming from the desert. The white capped mountains below a star filled sky are just beautiful.



Sienna in Yosemite



I park the car facing west and nap until the sun lights up the mountain tops. We drive across Tioga pass to the west entrance to try and get camping permits. The sign at the entrance says that all campgrounds are full and everything was completely reserved when I checked before we left Toronto. Seeing people camped out at the East entrance at Tolumne Meadows doesn't give us any better hope. However, I'm the first in line at the Big Oak Wilderness permit station - problem is he can't issue permits from near Tolumne or from Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley. I take what I can get - a wilderness permit for a party of 5 starting at Tenaya lake with a stop at Half Dome. Yeah! we have our permits - I'm so excited! We also get two small bear canisters for our food.


It's still early so we spend the morning taking in the tourist sites in the valley before packing our backpacks and setting off on our trip around 4pm.


Nathan washing up under Yosemite Falls










As soon as we start our hike there are swarms of black flies and mosquitos - and the hike starts with a hip deep water crossing! what a way to start our adventure. Funny thing was we didn't pack much bug juice or mosquito nets because we hadn't seen any mosquitos until now!

Christian crossing Tenaya Lake with N&E preparing to follow

We hike about 4miles in and gain about 1000 ft of elevation.

going UP...

and UP through snow too!

We camp at ~9000ft just below Cloud's Rest. It's such a beautiful view.

Cloud's Rest and Half Dome in the distance

We get to use our new 5-man tent for the first time. It's huge inside! It's much bigger than our old 6-man tent that was falling apart.

Christian throws up at night - but luckily NOT IN the tent. It may be due to the altitude. Nathan also has a bleeding nose. Hopefully the puke and blood don't attract the bears....

Cooking sausages at Camp 1

July 18 - Moab

We arrive in Moab as a hot air balloon is rising into the sky.

Sunrise in Moab, UT

We get to Arches National park ready to hike to the Delicate arch around 8am. There are about 10 cars in the parking lot - by the time we get back it's a zoo with busloads of tourists.

Unhappy kids at Delicate arch, Utah

The kids start whining and crying when I tell them we're going to do another hike to Landscape arch - but we still do it since our family is not a democracy.

Christian supporting Landscape arch

Evangeline balancing Balancing Rock

Afterwards, we treat ourselves to Root beer floats and nachos at the Moab Brewery. and then we're off to Yosemite around 4pm!

Passed through some sun showers in Utah and almost got a speeding ticket near Salina...

Near the Utah/Nevada border

While in Moab, we met a couple from Oregon who suggested going driving on the salt flats @ exit 4 on US-80 - west of Salt lake city. However, we are going to Yosemite via US-50 which he called "the lonliest highway". It's a 2-lane hwy with NOTHING on it. I drive completely through Nevada only passing a few dirt roads and a handful of cars. I can see the headlights of a car in the opposite lane about 15 mins before we actually pass. There's a USDA roadblock in Benton, CA where they confiscate our cherries that we just bought in Moab! (to protect from the cherry fruit fly) argh - I forgot how tight California was about their farms...

July 17 - relax.

We sleep in until 9am (abbie thought it was 11! haha) and have a generally relaxing day.

We acclimatized by hiking with the dogs in Evergreen (just outside Denver). elevation was about 7500 ft.

The Rose family with the Wens

There are a lot of Elk in Elk Meadow Park, Evergreen CO!

bbq dinner and a nice campfire. we almost got persuaded into staying another night - but decided to truck on to Moab - leaving denver around 11:30pm.