Yosemite Proposal

HALF DOME PROPOSAL

October 2021

Half Dome, Yosemite, Yosemite National Park, Yosemite Proposal Photos, Yosemite Engagement Photos

It was Late July, and I was vacationing in Italy after photographing a wedding in Greece. I could not resist to respond to Andrew's inquiry about a Half Dome Surprise Proposal. I borrowed someone's international phone, and made a consultation call in the middle of the night.

Andrew & Andrea (aka the Andys..lol I love it) were traveling to Yosemite, from Minnesota, for the first time with Andrea's entire extended family. They planned to hike Half Dome and Andrew's plan was to propose at the top.

HERE WAS THE PLAN:

I would drive down with my best friend Emily to assist (she's a fellow backpacker) and sleep in the parking lot. We'd wake up at 4am to be ready to spot Andrew and their group. I'd start hiking before them, to be at the top of Half Dome and ready to go when they summitted.

HALF DOME STATS: 16 mi round trip, 5,000 feet elevation gain

HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED:

It turned out that 17/17 of the people in the Andy's hiking group are marathoners. They all woke up at 3am and decided to start hiking a whole 1.5 hours EARLY. They parked in a different parking lot. Andrew didn't have service and couldn't inform me of these MAJOR changes to the plan we had confirmed 8 separate times.

I stuck to the plan and at 5:10am when we didn't see Andrew's group, we decided to start hiking and hope they weren't too far behind us (little did we know they had started hiking from a different point 1.5 hours earlier).

There was a trail maintenance closure that elongated the 16 mi round trip to a 20 mi round trip.

At this point, I got a little worried.

Then, I randomly got a spot of cell service and my phone rang. Andrew was calling, asking where I was, trying to relay that they left early. At this point, I was freaking out internally... they were almost 2 hours and 4 miles ahead of us. I looked at Emily, told her we probably wouldn't make it but had to try, and we started hiking faster than ever before. We did not stop once. I've never sweat so much in my life. The 30 pounds of camera gear felt light as a feather as adrenaline carried me most of the way.

I told Andrew I would wear something recognizable so he/the others in the group could recognize me on the trail (bright teal leggings). As we neared the super steep granite domes / cable section, members of Andrew's group started bailing. So as Emily and I speed-hiked passed, random people were whispering "Are you Kelly?"

They told us that the Andy's were at the base of the cables. I could not believe we caught up that much - but we still had 1,200 foot mini dome to summit before we even got to the cables.

By the time we got to the cables, some of the Minnesota group were already descending. Andrew was putzing around at the top trying to stall until I could get up there. Keep in mind the only contact we had all day was a frantic, static phone call hours earlier.

When I tell you my legs were cramping, I mean they were literally quaking with fatigue by the last 25 yards of cables.

Then I saw Andrew and Andrea, waiting for me and Emily to get to the top, so they could descend.

Andrew and I locked eyes. And he immediately said, "wait, babe just one more picture pleaseee." Andrea scoffed but gave in.

In the process of writing this... stay tuned.

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