half dome

i've been doing some pretty amazing things this summer, but this was definitely the most amazing thing of them all. my mom, dad, melissa and i went backpacking in yosemite. i'll let the pictures tell the story...

me and melissa! this is at the very beginning. we just put our packs on and are headed for the trail head! we're in for a long couple of days...we just don't know it yet.

mel, me, dad and mom at happy isles trail head. and we're off!

one of many water/picture breaks! in this picture you can see nevada falls in the background. isn't melissa a cute little hiker?

nearing the end of day one. we made it to nevada falls. and really mom? real mature...haha

we reached little yosemite valley! or LYV as i like to call it. we'll camp here for the night. looks like dad needs a break...

a sampling of the wildlife we saw while on the hike. this is day two, after a terrible nights sleep. the advil pm was not adequate. but i'm ready for some more hiking! dad and i left mom and mel behind and mad our way to half dome. the animals we saw weren't scared of us at all. the deer was so close i didn't even use the zoom. we saw marmots at the top like the one on the right. this one was a little obnoxious. he was literally eating out of our hands! but so cute! so of course we sacrificed our own stomachs for this fat one.

we paused before getting to the top. part one is over and we are about to embark on the granite steps. can you believe went to the top of this?

granite steps were tough, but i was just about scared stiff on this part! it was so steep! i was basically pulling myself up the whole way!

view from the top! we made it! now we just have to get down...

i had to take one last pictures as we started downhill. look how tiny those people are!

the hikers! we're almost finished! it's downhill the whole way from here. do we look tired yet?