Well.... almost....

16 miles round trip with about 1 mile of elevation gain.  I had done it once before, half a lifetime ago, at 18 and when I was in much better shape.  It is rather sad, as a stark reminder of what a softy I have become.   It really is a beautiful hike.  By far, the hardest part is the first 4 miles.  Up two water falls, Vernal Falls via the "mist trail" and then continuing on up the never ending stone staircase to the top of Nevada Falls and into Little Yosemite Valley.   We stated around 7:30 a.m. and I made it to the top of Nevada Falls around 11:00. That is one mother of a climb!
I stopped and ate some lunch and walked on for about an other hour or so.  I saw this woman shuffling down the trail, her cheeks streaked with tears, she looked very tired and dehydrated.  I asked her if she was okay and she started crying, stating that her group had started up the trail around midnight to catch the sunrise from on top, she did not make the cable climb and her group had left her because she was walking to slow, they told her they would see her at the bottom.  It was noon and she still had about 5 rough miles to go.  She said this was her first time to Yosemite and amazingly her first time on a hike of any length.  (Boy, did she pick the WRONG hike to make her first!)She had started the hike with no more than a small bottle of water and no food, she had a pack full of a jacket and an other pair of shoes that she wore up the trail last night.

I was amazed the people just kept walking by her and no one was paying any attention.  I realized that without some help right now she was not going to make it down until well after dark and most likley not at all without some help from the park rescue.
What a convenient excuse for me to turn around!!!   I asked her if she would like some help, she started crying again and said "yes!"  So I literally had to beg her to drink some of my water (fortunately i still had about 2 liters left) and I took her bag and walked very slowly along with her, keeping her talking and not focused on the walk ahead.  I decided that she would be better off if we took the John Muir trail back to Happy Isles instead of the Mist Trail even though it adds about 1.5 miles to the hike, it is not a vertical hike and not full of uneven steps and rocky terrain.  It took us four hours to hike about 5 miles down hill,  now that is slow... i made sure she found her party and she said thank you, I could tell she was embarrassed, but I just told her to drink some more water and get some sleep.

The rest of my party did not get off the mountain until 10:00 p.m., and by that time i was home in my bed fast asleep... I am not to embarrassed about not making it to the top,  most of the people i went with who were older than 18  did not make it to the top either... But I am going to get my new mountain bike tomorrow and begin, once again, a workout  routine as I realize that my kids will want to do this, and if I don't get into shape, I won't be able to join them..