I didn’t sleep well at all. In my new sleeping bag I wasn’t warm enough so I kept trying new things until I made myself comfortable. By shoving my old sleeping bag down at my feet my toes stayed relatively warm and with an extra jumper and the sleeping bag done up tight around my head I fared a little better. It didn’t help that I had some crazy dreams, some about Half Dome, one about an old highschool mate breaking into my house to kill me and another where I stole a phone then felt really bad about it. Hmmm.

Most of the campground was already bustling by the time I got out of my tent around 9am. Geez it was cold, but I could already tell the day was going to warm up. I made myself some oatmeal with the packet mixes I’d bought and read some F1 magazine as I warmed my hands with the hot pot. I packed a bag full of goodies for a day of relaxed hiking then went on my way out of the campground. I obviously still have a lot on my mind because halfway out of the grounds, I couldn’t remember if I’d locked my bear box. It was the bloody garage door all over again. I walked back and sure enough it was closed but I felt better having checked.

I walked to the Lembert Dome trailhead where there were plenty of cars lining the roads already. I was grateful to be able to take my beaning and jumper off a few hundred meters into walking. I walked around Lembert Dome, then carried on up a bit further to Dog Lake. This round trip was supposed to take me 4 hours so I was surprised when I reached Dog Lake after only half an hour or so. Stupid National Park estimates. The Lake was pretty and there was a patch of sun with a log with my name on it so I sat to enjoy the view as I snacked. Others came up the trail behind me and meandered around the lake to find their own sun. I stayed a good while, enjoying the sound of the water lapping gently at the bank and a pair of dragonflys tackling each other mid-air into the water in a mating attempt.

I started walking back down then walked to the other side of Lembert Dome. On my way, I gave directions to an Asian couple who’d I’d already seen on trail and sent them in the right direction. At the turn off to Lembert Dome’s peak, the trail climbed steadily so that I was puffing. When the trail ended to be replaced by granite, I followed the easiest slope to the tallest point of the dome.

The rock was white and bright and a wind picked up that wanted to take my hat off my head. I could see the view getting greater as I climbed and at the top it was sublime. I could see Cathedral Peaks to my left, Tuolumne Meadow stretched out in front of me and the peaks of the Sierras behind. I was grateful for the clear skies after yesterday’s fire haze. I only hoped it would continue getting clearer for our Half Dome attempt on Sunday.

I scrambled down off the top of the dome to reach a lower part of the granite where it looked like not many people went. The scale of the granite was impressive and I tread carefully to avoid sliding down the rough rock. Out on a flatter piece of the dome, I was reminded of Half Dome and how it seemed never ending because of its flatness, but it didn’t quite have the same grandiose scale. How a bunch of boulders came to sit at the top of the dome, who knows?

I was hoping to have lunch at the top but it was too windy to be pleasant so I meandered back across the top and side of the dome back to the trail. I stopped one more time at the peak and considered setting up for a naked photo but when a guy came out of nowhere surprising me, I thought better of it. Instead I settled for the boring t-shirt on alternative.

There were plenty of people coming up the dome as I came off it so I was happy to have been at the top when I was. It was easy plundering back down and I was at the Dog Lake carpark after only a couple of hours hiking. I dipped my feet in the creek at the base of the carpark then returned to the shuttle stop to await a bus. I was the only one doing so, the carpark was packed and when the shuttle rocked up, I was the only one on it. The driver was a nice lady who asked and remembered where everyone was getting off. We drove through the meadow and out to Olmstead Point, the last stop, where I got off. This was recon for the smoke haze in the valley and I could see immediately that it was pretty hazy. I could only just make out Half Dome, which is normally clear and menacing from this point. The fact that I could see it at all was a good sign. Yesterday when I’d driven by, I hadn’t been able to spot it.

I didn’t stay long at the overcrowded lookout, instead I hit the Snow Creek trail back towards Tenaya Lake. I hadn’t walked this path before so figured I’d do something different. I didn’t see another human soul on the narrow path that took me through meadows and forest. If it wasn’t for the noise emanating from the nearby road, I’d have considered myself in the real wilderness.

I said hi to a deer grazing on trail as I walked through a meadow, then walked amongst the trees until I saw a carpark and the blue waters of Tenaya Lake.

I was reminded of my first ever hike in Yosemite that ended at Tenaya Lake. That had been only a few weeks after I moved to America and it was a great introduction to America’s gems. I walked around the lake, the trail winding close to the water the whole time so I had great views. There were a few people braving it out in the water, but the trail was pretty much unpopulated.

Two giant helicopters flew overhead, causing a huge ruckus within the granite walls and I hoped that if they were flying to rescue someone that it went well. It made me think about the attempt on Half Dome I’d soon be making. When I reached the sandy beach of Tenaya, there was no one on the far beach that I walked on to so I sat myself down in the fine granules of granite to bathe in the sun. It was plenty warm enough, but when the wind picked up and carried the coolness of the water with it, it was almost too cold.

In a sneaky spot hidden from the tourists on the beach closest to the road, I took my clothes off and lay on them to let the sun fully warm my body. I listened to a podcast with my head propped up against my bag so that I just lay there, listening to the buds in my ears and watching the water lapping at my feet.

It lasted about an hour before the wind became too cold to brave naked anymore. I wasn’t too disappointed, after I got dressed and walked towards the road, I found my body warmed to the core. If only there was a way to make that warmth last the night?

I walked along the road towards the shuttle stop and ran the last hundred meters as the bus pulled past me. There wasn’t anyone else at the stop, the driver had recognised me from earlier and stopped for me. How nice! Not that I was in a rush to get anywhere, but the timing was pretty good. Again, the only one on the bus, I was driven back to camp. I enquired at the campground station as to the weather in the Valley for Sunday and found out it would be high 20s for our climb of the Dome and only a very slight risk of thunderstorms in the afternoon. It was the best we could hope for.

I thought about finding another sunny spot to sit myself down in, but the wind had picked up everywhere so I just trundled back to camp. Everything was as I’d left it, except for a decent layer of pines sitting on top of the table, tent and Mini. I got myself wrapped up in my old sleeping bag and sat at my picnic table blogging until dinner time came around.

No campfire talk tonight, I felt quite tired after my day of doing not a whole lot so after I was full with chicken and rice, I crept into my tent. Not willing to suffer the cold feelings of last night, I double-bagged it, arranging myself inside two sleeping bags where I stayed toasty warm all night.