Training for Half Dome
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010
By: Brandon Bailor
The time is getting closer. I promised myself last October (On my big road trip … story still in progress … will post soon) after visiting Yosemite, that I would return to the park for my birthday. I figured the 15 mile (with 4800 ft elevation change) round-trip hike to the top of Half Dome would be a nice way to revisit the park. Only problem is … I have never done a hike of this magnitude. So … training it is! Two weekends ago, I went to my favorite local park (Ricketts Glenn State Park) to warm up. It is a nice 7.2 mile hike with 22 named waterfalls and about 1100 ft elevation change. I love that park, and I go about as oftem as I can. In fact last weekend I went both Saturday and Sunday! 🙂
Saturday, I went by myself … goal was training. I did the actual loop twice … turned it into about 10.5 mile hike with about 2000 ft elevation change. Whoa!!! Nice workout! I pushed myself pretty hard, no rest breaks, did it in just about 3 hours. Sunday I took Michelle to the park. It was her introduction to hiking. She has never been to a park for hiking like that. I was impressed, she did the entire loop! Poor thing has shin-splints now. I feel for her. I get the feeling that she doesn’t have much interest in this, but she is a trooper, and is toughing through it for my sake. I love this stuff, travel, nature, hiking … and both of us love the fact that we can share it together.
So, with the date rapidly approaching, I need to train. I found what promises to be a good hike in NY, Slide Mountain. There is a hike there … 10 miles, about 3600 ft elevation change. That sounds like a good indicator of what I am in store for. I will post again after that hike to document what it is like.
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