Twice in October I listed an extreme hike with both the Day Hiking and Peak Climbing Sections. Twice in October I was the only male on the trip. Hey, guys, what's up? Gone soft? It's not ALL bad to be surrounded by the opposite sex, but it makes you careful about the jokes you tell...Anyway, here's just a quick note about each climb:

Dee Booth, Suzanne Remien, Bonnie Reusch, and Steve Eckert took advantage of Cecil Magliocco's Yosemite car camp arrangements as a jumping off point for this day hike. We gathered at Happy Isles (in Yosemite Valley) just at first light and stormed up the Mist Trail. Despite the fears of some, the "mist" was only a memory at this time of year, the steps were all dry and the climb was not as cold as anticipated. Two of us stopped for water in Little Yosemite Valley, and spent the next hour and a half trying to catch Dee and Bonnie. Dee summitted first, singing "Rocky's Theme" and dancing on the rocks. (OK, not really dancing, but showing the obvious advantages of concerted training.) We had a nice long lunch and headed over to Half Dome, where the cable supports had already been taken down for the season. It was late enough in the day that the crowd was thinning, and we took advantage of the pile of gloves at the bottom of the cables. The cables had to be picked up as you walked up the slope, but this was not really a problem. Dee got to the cables first, but decided not to go up again, and Bonnie had a last-minute surge of energy as perhaps the last person to summit that day. We made our way back to the cars as it got dark, after about 8000 feet of gain and 27 miles, and finished off the day with beer and chips in the Valley (more smoky than usual due to "controlled burn" fires).