A Guide to The Ultimate Yosemite Day Hike

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October 5, 2010 by Jonsky

Sara Stout, who resides in the Jupiter, FL area, had a once-in-a-lifetime experience, mastering Yosemite’s Half Dome hike in her fifties. She writes: “I just returned from my first trip to Yosemite (I’ve been waiting to go there since I was 14! – I’m in my 50’s ….) where I hiked Half Dome , ‘Yosemite’s Most Demanding Day Hike.’ They weren’t kidding!!! It was awesome but the absolute hardest thing I’ve ever done. My friends asked, ‘Why?’ and ‘How did you do it being a Floridian?’ and ‘What did you Experience?’ and I wrote up an account of my experience.” Sara is sharing that account with TravelSmart. Thanks Sara, and congratulations on your accomplishment!

Here are some of the tips:

• Be physically prepared – Train your body to get it accustomed to walking at least 10 miles. Sara trained for at least 4 1/2 months.

Still, how do you get ready for such a grueling 14 – 17 mile trek when you live in Florida where we barely have hills? By finding places that do have some elevation challenges. But first you must accustom your body to hiking at least 10 miles and the best way is to work up to this amount by starting with only a 1 – 3 mile walk if you haven’t been exercising regularly. Do this for a few weeks until it feels too easy and add on miles gradually. When I was training for the marathon I would do a three-mile power walk one day, the next day insert some short sprints within the three-mile walk, and later in the week (usually Saturdays as I had more time) I would add on a mile or two, then return to the regular walk and the sprint walk the following week. After a few weeks the regular walks increased as did the Saturday long walks.

• Try looking for the trailhead the day before the hike

We threw our duffle bags on the cots and went off in search of the trailhead knowing we’d be hiking to the trailhead before dawn the next morning. It was dark at this point so it turned out to be excellent prep to find the trail.

To get to the trailhead from Camp Curry we simply walked up the bus loop road to the Happy Isles Stop Number 16 and onto a bridge that crossed the Merced River. The trailhead was just past the bridge on the right. We could see the rock walls in the moonlight and below we spotted a young couple with headlamps coming off the trail. When we spoke with them they confirmed they were just finishing their Half Dome hike (they had left at 8 am and it was currently 9 pm) and they said that even though their feet were killing them it was worth the effort.

• Carry lots of water and some important gear

Feeling somewhat smug knowing that we planned to be on the trail by 6 am (and we were certain we’d finish before dark) we returned to the tent eager to prepare our packs for the next day’s adventure: A Camelbak backpack containing four liters of water as suggested by the NPS  (a two- liter water reservoir with an additional two-liter bottles of Smartwater which has electrolytes); sturdy telescoping hiking poles to take some weight as we hiked; a large bag of home-made trail mix, apples, beef jerky and a celebratory Snickers bar for the summit. Hat, camera, cell phone, sunglasses, first aid kit, flashlights and sunscreen completed the pack.

More tips for Hiking Yosemite’s Half Dome