Well, 99.9% of us will never get to Mt. Everest stands at 29,000ft. It is far off our radar. At 8,842 ft, Half Dome is a challenge enough for us. May is hiking season at Everest. The weather takes a break then. This year the number of climbers (foreigners) is 315; Nepali support staff at base camp and above base camp estimated about 500. This number is somewhat similar to last year. And we think the cables are busy!

Records show that since Sir Edmond Hillary first did it, there have been 5,652 summits of Everest by 3,425 different persons, meaning that 2,220 climbers, mostly Sherpas, have multiple summits. 223 people have died on Everest.

Let’s head up the Mist trail this summer – one step at a time.

Unrelated thought worth quoting: “I want to take you higher.” – Sly Stone

MrHalfDome™ – Rick Deutsch – www.HikeHalfDome.com

One Best Hike: Yosemite’s Half Dome

Katadyn Hiker Pro at work

By way of full disclosure, I was given an evaluation HikerPro water filter that you will see in this video. A good follow up to the webinar on gear. Enjoy this 7-minute demonstration. You need to treat the water in Yosemite lest you gulp down some Giardia or Cryptosporidium. this YouTube should help you if you are unfamiliar with water treatment.

In other Park news, a 73-year old Minnesota hiker, Mr. Kenneth Stensby, is now missing after heading out Sunday on a hike up the lower Mist trail. He is staying at the Ahwahnee Hotel and told the staff his plans. His backpack was found at the top of the fall. If you were there Sunday and saw him or his bag, contact the park at (209) 372-0432.

Unrelated thought worth quoting: “You live longer once you realize that any time spent being unhappy is wasted.” - Ruth E. Renkl

MrHalfDome™ – Rick Deutsch – www.HikeHalfDome.com

One Best Hike: Yosemite’s Half Dome

Originally a legal term referring generally to the act of valuable property being taken into custody by an agent of the court and locked away for safekeeping, usually to prevent the property from being disposed of or abused before a dispute over its ownership can be resolved.

 At midnight tonight, the ax falls. For the Park Service, it could be underfunded by 8.2% and lose over $200M in earmarked projects.

Furlough for Yosemite Rangers??

The Park Service budget represents just 1/14th of 1 percent of the overall federal budget. At the same time, Parks help generate over $30 billion on tourism, hotels, tours, merchandise etc. spending. Overall, it takes 258,000 people each year to generate this. So not only will there be Ranger impacts, surrounding communities will suffer. El Portal, Mariposa, Groveland, Lee Vining….One estimate is that 100 parks could be in “skeleton crew” mode or even shut down.

Unrelated thought worth quoting: “If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull.” -  W. C. Fields

MrHalfDome™ – Rick Deutsch – www.HikeHalfDome.com

One Best Hike: Yosemite’s Half Dome

Black Diamond Visitor Center

Rose HIll Cemetery (circa 1860)

Entrance to the Eureka Shaft – 296 feet deep

The Shaft

The park was a pretty good ride from San Jose-by-the-sea, but worth it. Most of the facilities don’t open until March 1 – bummer, but we avoided the $5 entrance fee. The visitor center is open and couple rangers provide help.  Most of the mines are sealed up but during the summer, they give tours of the big mine.

It was a great Half Dome training site. There were humongous hills on either side of the trails. We logged almost 4 hours and slept well that night. This is a recommended hike for Bay area folks.

Unrelated thought worth quoting: “You can lead a man to Congress, but you can’t make him think.” – Milton Berle

MrHalfDome™ – Rick Deutsch – www.HikeHalfDome.com

One Best Hike: Yosemite’s Half Dome

Now the Mt View, CA has taken the technology one step further. They have released a new program under Google maps that will let you take a virtual hike in the Grand Canyon. They claim to have 75 miles of trails that you can “walk” at home. Their staff strapped on the video capture device shown below.

Google’s video capture device

That looks like a pretty hefty weight to be hauling all the way to the Colorado River down the Bright Angel Trail to Phantom Ranch. And back up. They used images from an October trip.

What do you think? Will people use this to help plan their trip to see “what it’s like?” Or will they sit on their recliner and save the money and sweat and “check off” that they’ve “been there?” Here’s what a snapshot looks like:

Grand Canyon hike with Google

I’d guess they will do Yosemite next. I’ve already seen a commercial video of the entire Half Dome hike – done with a hand held videocam. The Google method lets you “turn around” and zoom into things of interest. I have no idea what their rig weighs, but getting it up 4,737 feet and negotiating the cables would be a massive effort. But then, the Bright Angel Trail is nothing to sneeze at either. One thing that still botyhers me is that even though the fuzz human faces, it sure would be easy to recognize someone based on their physique, clothing, etc.

Just go to your browser and get on Google maps. Enter Grand Canyon and then place the street views little man down on a trail and have fun.

Unrelated thought worth quoting: “It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” – Edmund Hillary

MrHalfDome™ – Rick Deutsch – www.HikeHalfDome.com

One Best Hike: Yosemite’s Half Dome