Day 35: Half Dome

This was the hardest hike of my life.  I woke up at 5:30 and drove into the park to start hiking by 7:00 am, and later realized I was one of the last people to start. The Mist trail was closed so I wasn't able to get close-up views of the two waterfalls along those trails and I had to take the longer route - the John Muir trail - to get to Half Dome.  10 miles in I was pretty tired and made it to the sub-dome, where it got really steep.  The views were amazing and climbing the cables was a little scary but a cool experience.  The whole time I was dreading the hike back, however.  On the way back I stopped by the river and got some more water and rested before finishing the hike.  At the end of the day, I had walked 23 miles and gained over 6,000 feet of elevation.  Not sure if I would do it again but I'm glad I did it once!