yosemite half dome hike

 my challenge was: one focal length. one aperture. one camera. 

i used my 24mm at f/3.2 the entire trip and i’m pretty happy with the results. backpack strap shoulder bruises tell me it was a good idea to bring my lightest lens.

day 1.

food, driving, stopping, driving, admiring, more driving, food, more admiring, sleep.

en route. still energetic.

flat land all around

coolest combo wash ever. cars and dogs. might as well!

james still opts for the self wash

4 hrs and too much edm later, some trees!

nostril-flared omar is eager to get out the back seat

we stop along the highway to admire. nothing beats it.

fresh air and one of the many beautiful sights on the way to our lodge

counting trees

more views. you’ll see a lot of these.

self-timer fail

james, frollicking in a field full of mating bugs

these bugs mate and eat at the same time. they got the right idea.

this is such a cute pic but why are omar’s veins so crazy

day 2.

date: 7/15/12
time: 4:20am – 7:10pm
peaked: 11:11am
break time: 3 hours
hike time: 12 hours
distance: 17 miles
trail: parked at curry village, walked to trailhead, took mist trail to half dome then back down via john muir trail

we all tried to sleep early saturday night because we knew sunday’s half dome hike was going to be pretty gnarly. the plan was to wake up at 2:30am and get to the trailhead by 4am. i thought they were insane. in retrospect, it was the best plan ever. lights were out by 10:30pm but with too much adrenaline and anticipation, we all got only an hour or two of sleep. we were restless but still managed to kick off at a decent time.

headlamps, check.

group pow wow at the trailhead

james notices a millipede

5:45am: break of dawn

after about 2.5 miles of pretty steep hill, we break for a morning snack

destination half dome looks so damn far

gettin’ a tad closer!!!

omar decides to chill on a slanted rock. not the brightest decision he’s made.

one of the two big waterfalls we see on the way up

closer up

marisa and i were pretty obsessed with the furry moss-like stuff growing on all the trees

half way there!!!

marisa’s probably questioning why she agreed to do this

another break to soak in the view

probably the hardest part of the hike, right before the cables

breathtaking

exhausted but almost there!!!! man up, james!

finally…….we reach the base of the cables. excitement and nerves fill my every bone.

*cracks my wrists* so it begins.

couple more planks to go!!!!!

we made it!!!!!!!!!! omar, maggie and james are too exhausted to celebrate

after his nap, james catches his 53rd wind and plays with the infamous well-fed marmot, also known as the food stealer

with my 24mm prime lens, you can imagine how close this guy was. his cute little teeth only 5 inches away from my lens.

probably because i was devouring this delicious veggie fan tuan

marisa’s view

view of marisa

man made rock sculptures. one of my favorite shots.

big 2 up on the dome? we had to. we wouldn’t be asians from the 626 if we didn’t.

after almost 2 hrs up top, we made our way down. with fingers, hands, wrists, forearms burning, we still managed to take a group shot.

where’s omar?

we did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the half dome day hike was, in one word, incredible. we each felt miserable the next morning, like someone took a dull knife and cut my calves out, slowly, but there’s no denying it was all worth it. we had good talks and even better laughs. i learned you’ll never get sick if you cover your throat while you sleep*, fleet foxes is the perfect music when cruising through a mountain, catching a 50th/60th/70th wind is possible, marshmallows are delicious, stephen hawking lives a happy life*, and dollar tree is the shit. most notably, i learned i can do pretty  much anything on just 1 hr of sleep. thanks to my compadres marisa, maggie, omar, taylor and especially james for planning the whole thing.

*citing: james poshan hsu