The Tall and the Mighty Calling!
This has by far been the most compulsive topic that I wanted to blog about and somehow I have been procrastinating it. Rather I have been waiting for that one high after which I would be thrown into writing about hikes. I know a lot of us have that as a usual hobby. Almost every other Desi soul on orkut has hiking as his interest. I may be in the same pool coz I don’t know their exact frame of mind when they hike. But for me its an elixir. I developed this ardent love for the hills somewhere in my adolescence. Since then I long to run to them. Mountain View offered me ample scope to quench my appetite. The copious trials have their own flavor and my friends and I pick one every week. My last cake was Half dome in Yosemite National Park. We had been there earlier in May 2006 to conquer it, hardly having trained for it. We almost made it.. ALMOST and that hit us bad coz it stood there high up mocking at those who thought it was undemanding to summit. Well for us the excuse was it started snowing then and so we had to return coz the cables get slippery. But really, it wasn’t so. Our bodies were giving way. We had lost all our energies and hence our will to summit. But we decided to come back in 2 months and get to the top. And we DID! September 16th 2006 at 4:30 pm we were on top of this majestic rock that stands out amidst all others in the valley.
It was Prasad, Andy, Jayesh and Sucheta and I. We camped the previous night in the housekeeping camp only to regret the fact that we should have reached there earlier to savor the true joy of a bonfire on the banks of Merced under the starry haze of the night. But we enjoyed the rustic feel of it nevertheless. Our comforters defied us and we couldn’t sleep coz of the chill in the air. After having tried for 4 hours to get some sleep in vein we got ourselves geared for the climb. We drove till the Happy Isles tail at 8:30 am and started the long day. The initial half n hour was excruciating. But it slowly started getting better. We decided to take the Mist trail over John Muir as it was 1 miles shorter yet hard on the knees as they were just steps up. Our first break being Vernal Falls which we reached after some struggle. Next up was Nevada falls which seemed a lot easier as our engines were now well oiled and warm. The part after Nevada starts sapping you. It says 4.5 miles to the tip of the Dome. This is divided between a seemingly long but flat stretch on a sand like surface followed by the final climb to the base of the dome which is the killer. We were panting, breaking often and eating as much as we could during that time. Some unknown inner power better known as our WILL was the only force propelling us to take the next step and not go back. And alas after a series of muddy trails and rocky steps we reached the cables. We let out a gasp when we saw it up-close. The sight was daunting! It reminded me of ants marching in a line. Lots of them in either direction. Colliding, stopping, reverting and marching. But there was a difference. This was 8500 feet above the sea level and this was vertical. Meaning one slip and this could be the last sight that life could offer us! Breathtaking, needless to say. There are these do or die moments in our lives. This was one of them for me; Literally! But after a lot of contemplation, fear and anger I decided to go all the way up and I did! It was worth every step, every drop of sweat and mettle!
We now proudly wear a T that says “I made it to the top of the Half Dome”!! Watch out Shasta and Whitney J I will conquer you soon!
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