Monday, July 24 — Eric, Greg and Heath got up at 0500 to get an early start on the Vernal Falls hike. Here is a photo of them at the footbridge, the first milestone of the hike.

They took the Mist Trail up, which was essentially a giant set of stairs.

They made it to the top of Vernal Falls.

Here is a shot looking down at Vernal Falls.

Heath decided he did not want to attempt to make it to the top of Nevada Falls, which was further up. Past Nevada Falls, the trail continued up to the top of Half-Dome. Even though Eric couldn’t go to the top of Half-Dome, he was pleased that he made it to the Vernal area. It was an amazing view in all directions. 

They went down via the John Muir Trail, which was a set of switchbacks. They hiked a total of 7-miles round-trip. After the hike, they rejoined Christi and Keith at the campsite. We all had breakfast, then the men sat in chairs in the shallow part of the creek and watched the kids play in the water for a couple of hours.  

Once the hikers felt like they were capable of walking again, we trekked over to Curry Village for a pizza lunch and showers. After lunch, Greg and Heath rode their bikes over to the base of Yosemite Falls while Christi, Eric and Keith laid low at the campground. 

While we couldn’t see the sunset itself, the clouds turned a dramatic pink in an interesting shape that highlighted the almost half-moon. 

Unfortunately, bedtime was less peaceful than it had been yesterday. We had new neighbors that had a small child who screeched loudly late into the night.