This report was originally posted on that other forum. (link) It's time to move it here. ...from Sept 24, 2008:
Originally Posted By: Steve C, 04-19-2008
Thanks for posting the report, Kent. I have got to try that soon.
<-- Click to see the picture album.
Well, I finally tried it out on Saturday. It was a fun hike, but we got way off route a few times. At one point, we spotted a fast-moving group of 4, and realized they knew exactly where to go. We watched, then struggled back onto their path, and found the perfect route. There is a hard to find path through the bushes, and a narrow ledge across the slabs with only a couple of exposed places.
Coming down, we had trouble finding the route, getting off route and onto steep exposed slabs again. It took a while and wore us out, but we finally found the correct path again.
I had in the back of my mind that I wanted to try Liberty Cap, but the climb from the valley floor took 5 hours with all the routfinding trouble.
So we opted instead for a swim at the base of Vernal Falls, which was just a small shower. The swim was perfect, though, since the sun was streaming into the gorge.
A little side issue: I carried my SPOT toy along, and while I was struggling to get back off a steep place just below the lip of the diving board, it unclipped from my pack strap. It cartwheeled ~200' down the slab and out of sight. I couldn't find it at first, but returning after lunch at the Diving Board point, I found it -- scratched up, but still working!
I have posted pictures here. There is a route description on the second picture, and a map with the correct route on the fifth picture.
And here's my video from the Half Dome Diving Board.
Edit: In October, MooseTracks, wagga and I did a little loop around Liberty Cap, following Kashcraft's route. MooseTracks' report is here. Her pictures, starting on the second page, (about #102) shows the guano route variation.
I added a blue line to the route map in my smugmug picture set to show our "guano gulch" route around the base of Liberty Cap.
