The guy RD's decided to hike Half-Dome in Yosemite this weekend (Jeff Lewis, Dave Hulet, Siona Savini, and I).  The only other time I was in Yosemite is long enough ago for me not to remember anything about it.  I'll certainly remember this time, though.

The hike was 15.2 miles roundtrip.  We gained around 4,800 feet in elevation (Half-Dome itself is around 8,850 feet).  We camped in Yosemite Valley on Friday night, had an absolutely incredible Hobo dinner (tri-tip, potatoes, onions, and carrots all sliced up and grilled in tin foil on a campfire, then mixed together), packed everything with a scent into the bear lockers for the night, woke up at 5:30am, packed up, and hit the trail at 7:00am.  We summitted at around 1:00 or 1:30pm, enjoyed the view for about an hour, then headed back down.  We took a steeper shortcut on the way back and were at our car around 6:30pm.  We got back to TMC at precisely 11:59pm (the exact time that Jeff had predicted at our trip-planning meeting last Tuesday night).  On the hike I drank 80 ounces of water and actually gorged myself sick on dry fruit, strawberry Nutri Grain bars, a few gummy worms, and Italian dry salami with Tillamook cheddar at the top.  I kept wanting to eat and thought I would need it since we were expending so much energy, but I ended up feeling sick the whole way down and didn't eat anything between 2:00 and 10:30pm.

This is what we saw upon exiting the tunnel into Yosemite Valley (Half-Dome is the half-dome at the very end of the valley):

The trees were big, strong, and beautiful.

Jeff wanted to make sure we knew exactly where we were headed.  He's pointing at the "Diving Board."

The face of Half-Dome glows when the sun sets on the west side of the valley.

Ona got thirsty on the way up, but the Lord provided water out of a rock.  Dave was going to hit it a few times, but I told him not to.  "Dude, haven't you read your Old Testament?"

This is Half-Dome from the east side.  We couldn't figure out why they call it "Half-Dome."  The little guy you see at very top isn't actually a little guy.  He's a normal-sized person on a huge rock.  The reason I know he's not a little guy is because of the trail of equally-little people on the left side of the picture.  This rock is no joke.

It didn't matter, though.  Ona was hardcore and ready to do it.

So up we went, along with a horde of other people.  It felt like some sort of pilgrimage.

Yes, those are cables, and no, it doesn't feel entirely safe going up.  It's not an exaggeration to say that if you slip and fall, you are definitely going to die.  We tried hard not to do that.

We made it to the top by God's grace.  Here we are on the Diving Board.  Notice my strategic position in this particular picture.

The reason my position was strategic is that this is where we were standing (no, I didn't fall off; I'm the one taking the picture):

We had quite a view.  If the creation reflects the power and artistry of its Maker, we can know at least two things: God is not small, and He is not unskilled.  This is why it is not foolish or unfair to believe that there are no absolute atheists (Romans 1:19-20).

The vertical drop is about 4,400 feet along the northwest face.  This didn't bother Jeff, though.  Jeff actually eats fear for breakfast.  Meanwhile, Dave (top left) decided to pose for his senior picture.

We thought Jeff (top) was pretty courageous until we saw these guys (bottom):

They're from Germany.  We thought they were so cool we got a picture with them.  I bet they thought we were pretty cool, too.  I mean, the difference between hiking the backside of Half-Dome and climbing the face isn't really that different.  I don't know why they needed those ropes.  I think they were just showing off.

The hour we spent at the top went by quickly, but that didn't make it less glorious.  When we started down the cables, Jeff wasn't happy that he had to wait in line and Ona was hoping for more water to come out of the rock.  I was just trying to get the picture taken so I could put my gloves back on and grab the cables again.

These guys that I work with are genuinely awesome.  The bond we share is deep, and the ministry that has brought us together is filled with joy.  We all had an amazing time, and I can't think of a more refreshing way to spend 36 hours of a mid-semester weekend.  The fellowship and conversations were encouraging and insightful, the creation was chattering non-stop about the glory and wonder of its Creator, the hike was hard and rewarding, and the spiritual lessons could fill more than a few pages in each of our journals.

I'll just share one of those lessons.  I took this last picture from the summit with this verse in mind: