Everett Kalin may be a grandfather, but he’s showing no signs of slowing down. In fact, the 93-year-old recently completed a 13-hour hike to reach the top of the iconic Half Dome at Yosemite National Park. Joining him on the trek were his son, Jon, and his granddaughter, Sidney. She claimed on TikTok that her grandpa is now one of the oldest people to have achieved this feat.
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“The 14- to 16-mile round-trip hike to Half Dome is not for you if you’re out of shape or unprepared,” says the National Park Service website.
Thankfully, this wasn’t an issue for Everett or his family members. According to KNTV, the elderly gentleman prepped for the climb using the staircase at his apartment building. As frequent hikers, Jon and Sidney were already in pretty good shape for the journey. It didn’t hurt that the group received tons of encouragement from others on the trail!
“Everyone was kind of looking at my dad in awe, saying, ‘Wow, amazing you’re doing this. You’re such an inspiration. Can I take a photo with you? You’re making me think of my dad,'” said Jon. “Pretty neat we had the support of everyone up and down the mountain.”
When the group finally reached the top, they weren’t just rewarded with a spectacular view, but also a sense of accomplishment.
“I thought, ‘My gosh we’re here,’ and that was just super,” said Everett.
“It was incredible,” added Sidney. “It was certainly a long time coming. We had a long hike to get to the top, and we put in a lot of hours of preparation for this. So, to see it all come to fruition and make it to the top: We were all emotional; we were all crying. Everyone was filming us, cheering. It was a really special moment I’ll remember forever.”
For Everett, the achievement had been a dream of his for a couple of years. What inspired him, you might ask? The idea came to him shortly after he went skydiving at the age of 91!
Watch the video below to see the moment Everett and his family reached the top of the Half Dome.
You can find the source of this story’s featured image here.
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