Day 69 – 7/5/11 – 16 (0 PCT) miles (942)

We planned to get up early to beat the crowds at half dome, but not 4:50am early, at which time I awoke to a jingling sound, followed by a blur of fur running by and my tent falling over. It seems Mr. Bear liked the smell of the empty twix wrapper in Mocassin’s pack, and when discovered, decided to run of with the entire pack, ripping my front guy line out in his escape. KBomb chased the bear down until it gave up the pack. Thankfully the only damage was a little mangling of the side pocket.

Everyone just stayed awake after the bear incident, and as we were packing up to leave, I saw Jamz reach into his pack and pull out something white. His face turns to disgust, and he suddenly dropped the contents back into the pack. It seems Mrs. Mouse liked the looks of Jamz’s pack for making a nest and giving birth to 5 baby mice overnight.

Then we climbed the 8 miles and 4800 ft of elevation gain to the top of half dome. It’s great to be so in shape! The cables were fun, and the view from the top was amazing.

Ninja climbing up the cables on half dome

View of Yosemite Valley from Half Dome

I didn’t get a photo of the bear or the mice, but here’s a marmot and crow on top of Half Dome

Long story short, we got the schedule/stops wrong and missed the bus back to Tuolumne. Ninja, Roadrunner and I decided to try hitching back. We lucked out and made it back by 8:30pm after 2 very nice rides. We camped at the still closed Tuolumne campground.