The title picture was taken on the UCD-DAS/LLNL/Hertz Foundation Undergraduate Summer Institute Death March on August 16, 1997. I, along with the band of toughs shown below, spent one Saturday hiking from Porcupine Flats, across North Dome, past the top of the Falls, and down to the Valley Floor along the dashed line shown in the map inset (note that the map only shows a small part of the trail). Half Dome, in the background of the picture, is in the lower right corner of the large map. The trail was around 9.5 miles long with a drop in elevation of around 4120 ft. Some of the freaks, of course, were able to pretty much run the entire length and were probably done in a couple hours. I and a few of the more "normal" folks took about 8 hours or so to cover the whole trail. It would have been nice to have had this map BEFORE we walked, so we wouldn't have gotten all excited thinking we were almost done only to have to go back up and down another infinite switchback set. It also would have been nice to know the trail was rated strenuous. Or maybe not, I might not have gone then, and I am glad to have done it. It would have been nice to have had enough water as well, but now I have a better sense of how many bottles I need to carry. The question now is, as a DAS student, will I agree to go again?

Back to the title page.