• One Best Hike: Yosemite's Half Dome
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One Best Hike: Yosemite's Half Dome

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Everything you need to know to successfully hike Yosemite’s most famous landmark.
  • 27 March 2012
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Successfully hike Yosemite’s most famous landmark with the guide that helps you prepare and provides the details you need to know.

Getting to the top of Yosemite National Park’s Half Dome in California is one of America’s epic day hikes. Starting in Yosemite Valley, you’ll ascend nearly one vertical mile past two impressive waterfalls, through fragrant pine, fir, and cedar forests, then 425 feet up sheer granite on the famed steel cables to the summit, where you’ll enjoy some of the grandest views of your life. If you do it right, you’ll be back down in the valley, celebrating your accomplishment, later that evening.

While tremendously rewarding, this hike is also one of the park’s most strenuous. Here’s everything you need to know to successfully make the 15-plus-mile trek. This step-by-step guidebook by Rick Deutsch tells you exactly how to hit the trail with confidence.

Inside you’ll find:

  • Detailed, specific advice on the proper physical conditioning
  • Trail-tested list of what to wear and bring on the hike
  • Historical vignettes and 18 key points of interest along the trail, with GPS markers
  • More than 100 photos so you know what to expect

One Best Hike: Yosemite’s Half Dome, with its can-do approach, nuts-and-bolts advice, and practical tips, will leave you wondering why you’ve waited so long to embark on this truly special hiking adventure.

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Price: $14.95
Pages: 208
Publisher: Wilderness Press
Imprint: Wilderness Press
Series: One Best Hike
Publication Date: 27 March 2012
Trim Size: 8.50 X 5.50 in
ISBN: 9780899976747
Format: Paperback
REVIEWS Icon
"This guide covers everything you could possibly need or want to know about Half Dome and how to plan a successful hike." --Merced Sun-Star, May 2012

"This book is worth purchasing and it's an easy read. Being prepared and knowing some history will make your hiking Half Dome all the more memorable." --SeeYosemite.com, April 2012



Rick Deutsch lives in San Jose, California, with his wife, Diane. A veteran of Silicon Valley high tech, Rick is an adventure traveler. Some of his personal bests include rafting through the Grand Canyon (three times); ascending California’s Mount Whitney and Mount Shasta; pedaling the 500-mile Iowa RAGBRAI cross-state bike tour (two times); mountain biking in Moab, Utah; 250 scuba dives, including Papua New Guinea, Palau, Truk Lagoon, the Caribbean, and the Galapagos; hiking Peru’s Machu Picchu; and dogsledding in Alaska. It was after his 17th trek up Half Dome that he decided to write this guide to help others enjoy this fun and rewarding hike. As of press time, he has hiked Half Dome 31 times.

FOREWORD

PREFACE

1 INTRODUCTION

2 GEOLOGY OF YOSEMITE AND HALF DOME

3 HUMANS IN YOSEMITE

4 THE ASCENT OF HALF DOME

5 PRECUATIONS

6 GETTING THERE

7 PREPARATION

8 THE HIKE

  • POI 1: Mileage Marker Sign
  • POI 2: Vernal Fall Bridge
  • POI 3: Top of Vernal Fall
  • POI 4: Silver Apron Bridge
  • POI 5: Mist Trail–JMT Junction
  • POI 6: Little Yosemite Valley
  • POI 7: Half Dome–JMT Split
  • POI 8: The Little Spring
  • POI 9: Base of Sub Dome
  • POI 10: Base of the Cables
  • POI 11: Apex of Half Dome
  • POI 12: The Little Spring—again
  • POI 13: Little Yosemite Valley—again
  • POI 14: Mist Trail–JMT Junction—again
  • POI 15: Nevada Fall Bridge
  • POI 16: Clark Point
  • POI 17: Vernal Fall Bridge—again
  • POI 18: Mileage Marker Sign—again

EPILOGUE

APPENDIX 1: Key Dates in Yosemite and Half Dome History

APPENDIX 2: Preventive Search and Rescue Tips

APPENDIX 3: Half Dome Hiking Accidents

APPENDIX 4: References and Information Sources

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

INDEX