This is what I attempted, along with the rest of my immediate family, to accomplish:
As daunting as Half Dome itself looks in the picture I posted a few blogs ago, if you could walk right up to the base of that rock and then go up it, it wouldn't really be that daunting of a task. As you can see, that's really not an option. There are, I understand some other ways to hike to it that might not be quite as daunting, but this is what people are talking about when they talk about the hike to Half Dome.
You start somewhere towards the bottom right of the picture, probably not even on it, below the lower falls. You then hike out along the water at a steady, managable climb. Eventually, however, that changes and you start climbing up right along the right side of the falls, getting a fair share of mist, on very steep rock steps that are quite slipperly. Eventually, you get up the top of the first set of falls (Vernal Falls), at which point you cross over to the left side of the water. You then hike up a path, less steep than those start, but still plenty steep, doing plenty of switching back, that takes you to the top of the second set of falls. (Nevada Falls)
After you get past the Nevada Falls, the trail flattens out for a mile (and even descends, which trust me, you HATE on a climb like this since you know you're eventually heading back up) or so as you hike along the river and back behind the smaller peak you see on the right side of the picture. This part of the hike is done in the shadow of the dome itself, and you can see people making the final ascent, if there are any at that time, which there typically will be anytime from the later part of the morning on. After that nice little reprieve, you cut left back up into the forest, climbing back around behind Half Dome itself. Eventually you come out to more of a plateau, probably connected to some of the rock you can see there behind Half Dome, where you're standing, basically looking back at the camera, looking at the "lower" dome and the final ascent to the top. You hike through some more woods, and then up a very steep incline via stone steps and all kinds of switch packs, to the top of the lower dome, known "affectionately" as Heartbreak Hill. If you get to that point, the last 400 feet or so is at a 45 (Tim says greater) straight up the rock face, with the aid of cables to hold on each side to keep your balance.
The only modification on the trip back down is that at the top of Nevada Falls, you cross over the falls and take a longer, flater, less scenic hike back out of the mountains. This is longer, but much easier on the body, and much less dangerous than going down those steep, wet stairs I referred to beside Vernal Falls.
The trailhead is at about 4000 feet above sea level, and if you complete the entire hike, you'll walk about 17 miles round trip, and ascend 4800 feet before coming back down. My trip ended, along with my mom, dad, and uncle, on the plateau I spoke of before the final push to the lower dome. Megan made it to the top of Heartbreak Hill (pictures to come) before the heights got to her, and Tim made it to the top. Additionally, in our case, we couldn't park in the lot closest to the trail head, so we wound up having to walking better than 1/2 of a mile from our car to the trailhead in full gear.
This picture was taken the day after the hike at a scenic view place called Glacier Point. As you'll see as I get to the end of my story, I wasn't feeling particularly down on myself for not making it to the top anyhow, but as I saw this view, any lingering feelings of angst about what I hadn't done were totally washed away as I realized what I HAD done.
So, there's the full extent of the challenge - feel free to refer back for context as I elaborate.
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