＊鴨米血＊(Mishain is Here)

這篇就是麥可叔叔傳給我的File的文章:
(我覺得好長...應該大家都不會理我,所以我明天自己努力的看吧QQ)
How two seniors made it to the top Half Dome or else…

Car pooling with David Wu, controller of the Sheraton Hotel, Burlingame,
on our way to Yosemite National Park the day before our scheduled hike to the top of Half Dome, I was so impressed by his single-mindedness and dogged desire to reach the top of that big rock.

David is two years younger than me and has hiked to the top of Mount Whitney, which is 14,491 
feet above sea level. He used to work at the Ramada Inn hotel chain and has visited the Yosemite
Park for more than 20 times. Let’s just say that he got special deals from Ramada Inn near the
park. He said he had never made it to the top of Half Dome and had numerous dreams about it.

As for myself, I picked up hiking two years ago when I worked as a docent at San Mateo’s Edgewood Natural Preserve.
I was overweight and out of shape when I hiked the trails with park visitors to see wildflowers in the spring. The highest hill at Edgewood is less than 900 feet above sea level.

When Chengta’s hiking team announced its target of Half Dome, at 8,836 feet, I took the required challenge hikes and nearly passed them with flying colors. The first challenge hike to the Monument Peak almost got me into trouble-- took too much water with me that day, and I was struggling -- my back was hurting and my legs were wobbly. However, I managed, with the help of a walking pole, to come down safely.

The subsequent challenge hikes were relatively easy. Since then I had hiked the Sawyer Camp trail (12 miles) five times and the Windy Hill trail (7 miles) six times.

I was confident that I could make it to the top of Half Dome. I soon learned that my confidence was not well-founded.

Some people suggested that a good night’s sleep and a hot meal would help for the next day’s hike. Yes, I did share a hot pizza with David, plus a cup of cold beer. Not the most nutritious of pre-hike meals, but a good one nonetheless.

It was noisy and cold the night we stayed at Curry Village. I had to yell at my neighbor in the next tent at 12:30 a.m. that it had passed midnight and that they should be quiet. At 4 a.m., some young female hikers told me near the restroom area that they had seen a black bear near their tent. “It’s really a bear,” they said. I told them to be quiet because some people may be still sleeping. Our morning call was at 5 a.m. But I was up at 3:30 a.m.

Our team started 15 minutes late because two of our members were slow in getting to the meeting place on time. At 6:15 a.m. Saturday, 9/9/06, our hiking leader Charles Lo, with David Wu in close second, charged up the hill toward the Vernal Falls, the first target site on our way to Half Dome. I believe Charles was trying to make up the time lost in getting to the trail head. The A team (10 people), led by Charles, and B team (5 people), led by George Wang, were trying to keep up the same pace. However, when we reached the middle point bridge for a restroom break, two members showed obvious sign of over exertion and were already huffing and puffing. They were ready to quit on the spot. The actual distance covered was less than 1 mile.

It was not an easy hike up to the Vernal Falls. Our leaders showed their compassion by slowing their pace down and offering their help to getting some hikers down to the valley floor. However, those hikers who were ready to quit regained their self confidence and strength, and decided to continue the hike.

We reached the top of the Vernal Falls in good time. Next target was Nevada Falls. The hike was tough and steep and involved climbing up many granite steps. Among the new leaders in front of the pack was an 11- year-old girl named Selma whom I affectionately called her Selma Long Arrow, while her parents (Lumin Chang and husband) struggled to catch up. Selma, looking like a pretty Cherokee Princess, taking each step with vigor, joined our leaders Charles, David and Lily Wang’s son, Michael, and headed towards the top of Nevada Falls.

It was a long and strenuous hike after we passed the Little Yosemite camp grounds,

which are provided for those willing but unable to take up the final 3.5 miles hike to the Half Dome. We (Lily Wang and her daughter-in-law) did have our breakfast there before we hit the dusty switchbacks. When we reached the final 2-mile marker on the trail, one night hiker coming down form Half Dome told us, “Three more hours to go.”

Before we got a closer and clear view of Half Dome, we were faced with a section of treacherous granite steps with loose rocks on the shoulder of Half Dome. We (Selma’s dad) were still struggling up and taking frequent stops on the shoulder before young Michael showed up. He said he had quit when he got to the half way up. I believe he convinced his mother and wife to not risking their safety in tackling this one. A few minutes later, we saw Charles and Selma. They also quit because the traffic on the cabled path--which is the extremely steep last section leading up to the summit of Half Dome--was bad. We were told that David went up to the top all by himself.

It had passed 1 p.m., our deadline for returning to camp, and I was still waiting in line to get to the cables. A jubilant David came down from the top. He said: “Michael, you got to go up”. Do I have any doubts or choices? No.

David told me that the traffic jam was caused by a woman who had developed acrophobia, a fear of heights, half way up. She froze and was unable to move. Two people helped her down before the cabled path could be used by people going up and down. I waited for more than an hour before I got to the cables. Selma’s father showed up and said he wanted to see and feel what the cables were made of. However, he said he was not going up this time.

I did not have any fear or doubts about going up to the top. But I did have some thoughts that this type of hike was too risky for some folks. Why there is no park ranger on site to supervise this crazy event is beyond me. Too many young folks

were risking their lives by using a single cable outside the path to go up and down. I called that path the “Express Lane”. One slip, and it was bye-bye time.

I lost half of my walking stick when I was half way up to the top. But I still reached the summit at 2:30 p.m. and stayed for 30 minutes to take in all the spectacular views. I slipped and slid on my way down, using both of my hands to hold tightly onto the cables and was surprised to get a hello from one of our four younger members when they were on their way up.

I fell when I hit a slippery spot after I came down from the big rock. Both of my knees were scratched and bleeding. A 13-year-old boy from Modesto offered to help by giving me bandages and a swab to clean my wounds. A young girl from Israel also offered me her duck tape to secure my bandages. Going down the slippery stone stair steps of the shoulder section was much worse than going up. There was no choice.

I was alone on the trails going back down with two bad knees and without my hiking stick. I was slow and taking gingerly steps. Many hikers passed me and some even offered help. There was still day light when I reached Nevada Falls. However, when I decided to take the easy but longer John Muir trail, it was relatively dark. I did carry a lightweight flash light. But this was not a flash light for the outdoors. This was the kind where you squeeze the handle and it gives out a fainted lighting area. There were not too many hikers coming down through this trail at this late hour and the moon was not yet ready to shine over this part of the valley.

Compounding my misery was that my regular glasses were in my car and what I did have was a pair of prescription sun glasses. It wouldn’t do me any good to wear my sun glasses in this semi-darkness. A slight fear of encountering a bear on the trail—there are many bears in Yosemite, and they famously do not mind interacting with humans--came into my mind. There were more than 150 bear incidents in the park last year. What should I do if I saw a bear? Making loud noises and making yourself looking big were the two things I learned you should do when encountering a mountain lion. Could this method be used on the bears of Yosemite? However, I didn’t have a walking stick any more. Making myself looking bigger seemed out of question. What I could do next? Hand clapping?

Well, before the clapping began, I was amazed to find another young Israeli woman who was walking slower than me. Maybe the fear factor helped speed up my pace so that I could catch up to her. She said she twisted both of her ankles while hiking to Half Dome. She has no flash light and we decided to walk together slowly. I learned quite bit of information about the Middle East situation from her. She had just graduated from high school and completed her military training as an army nurse. Finally we reached the middle bridge point near Vernal Falls and completed our “longest mile’ to the trail head. We said goodbye and she joined her friends at the shuttle stop. The shuttle bus lady was so surprised to see a lone, older Chinese guy this late in the evening. She raised her thumbs after I told her I just came down from Half Dome.

It was after 8 p.m. when I knocked on the door of Lily’s tent “restaurant”. Lumin, husband and daughter Selma, Lily, son, and daughter-in-law were all having a good time enjoying her instant noodles. I got the leftovers and was in heaven.

On our way back to the Bay Area, David said he wants to do it again next year. I said to him: No way, Jose.