The climb along Cloud Rest, (which followed up beside Half Dome, but then branched before the real Dome climb), was extremely steep, sandy and peppered with fist-sized rocks. The sun was hot at 10:00a and those rocks rolled underfoot, and tripped Natey and me a number of times. Switchbacks, straight up, the whole path up was brutal and tested us all. I might have quit were I not the mom, I may have let them quit had I not seen a switch in their stance. Despite the whimpering (all of us took turns hitting that cry point) the boys kept stopping to say "wow." Wow. So long as they continued to be blown away, I kept them walking.
Again, aGain I say, we hear thunder. Rain too, growing louder and coming from our right. We braved it with ponchos for as long as we could (still clawing up the mountain, mind you), but then we were too wet and it wasn't letting up, so we gave in. We hid between two rocks with Tyvek draped over us. Max held one corner, I had the other. The temperature dropped drastically, and Nate fell asleep. Mombrain freaked inside and screamed "hypothermia! Get him out of here!" I pinned the top corner with my foot, and brought both boys into cuddle and warm on me. We sat like that for an hour and a half. Just sitting, talking, waiting for the sky to get it all out of its system.
And then it stopped. And Nate woke mid sentence, like he does, and we shook off the wet, and climbed. We would have passed the rock monster had it not been for the storm, but Max caught sight of it as we turned out of our cave hole. Obligatory pictures..they are all obligatory- respect for the dream we were walking through. We got to Cathedral Lakes to camp, with a pretty painting view.
Tomorrow we eat at Tuolumne!
Psst, it's working. It's still unclear how far we will make it, especially at this rate, but Max points out loose rocks and roots for Nate to avoid. Nate uses branches and boulders to steady his balance when jumping. Cranberries and Ramen are the most delicious treats ever. We made up poop, root, rock, cone, and other hiking video games. It's not breaking us, it's adding to us.
Things I say now:
Don't walk near the edge or you will fall off the mountain.
Lick the sides of your bowl, add water and drink it down.
Max go filter some water, Nate get the stove.
Did you bury your poop? Hand sanitizer..