Day 22: Yo-summiting

Let's start with some statistics:

• Miles from trailhead to summit of Half Dome and back, via JMT: 16.5
• Elevation gained, in feet: 4,800
• Time alarm clock went off this morning: 5:00 am
• Number of people who piled into cars to conquer the hike together: 17
• Time from bottom of cables to summit on a normal day: 20 minutes
• Time from bottom of cables to summit for me, because of the incredible traffic jam: 1.5 hours
• Hours spent on the trail by me and several others: 12.5

The crawl up the last bit of Half Dome(photo by mischiru)

Given all those numbers, it's not hard to imagine that I may have had some time, during the hours upon hours of trudging up and down this gorgeous mountain, to get to know some folks.

Actually, I'm pretty sure I had my Encantada finished at a record early 6:17 am on Saturday. That's the hour at which I learned the names and stories of the three strangers riding in the back of my Volkwagen, on the way to the trailhead. 

There was Cozi, an actual 1L and member of the environmental law group we were with (ELQ). Then there was Jolene, an non-ELQ 1L, and coincidentally also Cozi's friend from high school. And finally, there was Jen, a student in the public policy program that Cozi had just completed. 

These three wonderful women taught me things I never knew about caffeine on the drive over, as they sipped 6 am Cokes and mourned the lack of coffee. On the hike up, I heard about Jen's recent backpacking wardrobe malfunction in which her boot completely fell apart on Day 1 of a four day trip (she hiked out on a contraption involving tent poles, a sock, and duct tape).  They chose (wisely, I later decided) not to bother waiting in the line to get to the very last bit of half dome, and turned around about 3 hours before I finally started heading down. They spent the afternoon hanging out in Yosemite Valley with the utmost patience, and it was a pure delight to see them sitting near the car when I stumbled back after dark.

One of them handed me some whiskey and coke, and the day ended with soda, just as it had began. Rock on.