When I was in 6th grade we took a trip to California.
On this vacation, we wanted to travel to many of the exciting places in California in just a short week. We went to national parks, traveled along Big Sur, hung out at some of the popular beaches, and stopped by Hollywood and San Francisco. While every part of this vacation was amazing, I would like to talk about my experience at Yosemite national park. 
We had a big hike planned up to the top of half dome for a few months before the trip. The hike was between fourteen to sixteen miles and for a twelve-year-old, I was not necessarily prepared. We arrived at the trailhead at six in the morning and began our ascent up to the top. The first mile was pretty light but then we hit a large area of steps. It consisted of thousands of steps for another mile and a half. Going up those steps I was honestly regretting not preparing more for the hike. We weren’t even a quarter of the way done and my family was looking pretty discouraged. We kept pushing through in the ninety-degree temperature until we had reached the top of the mountain. At the very end, you have to climb up a 45-degree angle up to the very top by grabbing cables on either side.
By the end of this, I was so exhausted that I fell asleep on the rocky ground with the sun beating down on me. The bad part about this was that we still had to go all the way back down. There was an even worse part though, we did not bring enough water. We ran out of drinking water just twenty minutes into our way back down and there were no magical water fountains along the trail. Reaching such terrible levels of dehydration, my dad decided to drink straight from a stream that ran along the side of us at one point. He was lucky enough to not get any diseases from this clearly unsanitary water. It may have saved him though because we did not touch clean water for another six and a half hours.
This hike makes for a great story but was not the most pleasant. It was not all bad though because I forgot to mention just how beautiful the top of half dome was. You got to look out on the vast stretch of mountains in Yosemite and it felt like I was on top of the world. I probably will not be going back on this hike again, but I am very glad that it was something I experienced.
I find it crazy how you made these incredible hikes at 12 years old. When I was 12, I was mainly sitting on my couch playing Minecraft and Madden. I like your honest reviews of the hikes and mountains as well. The story about drinking water is crazy. I probably would have just rolled over and died there.
I like how honest you were about your not-so pleasant experience hiking to the top of the half dome. Often times travel blogs glorify long hikes like this and fail to acknowledge some of the real challenges that come with such a commitment. I’m very glad that you and your family are alright after that fiasco. Especially your dad, who risked it by drinking from the stream without knowing if it was safe or not. Although it was quite dangerous risking disease, the potential risk of future disease is absolutely less pressing than the imminent probability of severe dehydration. I’m very impressed that you did that at 12.Though, I definitely wouldn’t be interested in that now, especially after hearing of your family’s struggles. Great post.
A 16 mile hike sounds rough. The only mountain I have climbed was Snake Mountain in Vermont. I was like 6 and was absolutely gassed when I got to the top, even though it was only a few miles. It was definitely a nice view though. I’m not much of a climber, but I really want to go to Wyoming to see Yellowstone at least once in my life. I think spending more time in nature would be beneficial from time to time. Great post