Something that's been on my bucket list for some time now was to hike to the top of Half Dome. This 14-18 mile (22.5-29.0 km) hike is one of the most strenuous hikes in Yosemite – as one guide put it, on a scale of 1-10, Half Dome is an 11 – and takes groups an average of 10-12 hours to complete. It's particularly (in)famous for the cables for the last stretch, whereby you kind of pull yourself up to the top.
Permits are required if you want to hike to the top of Half Dome, and they're issued through a lottery system. The online system works like this: for your group, you can pick up to seven days (ranked in order of preference) to apply for in the lottery in April. When the system draws your application, it goes down your list and picks the first day that has enough permits for everyone in your group. At least one of the trip leader or alternate leader specified on the application has to be present on the day of the hike, and each person can only be trip leader or alternate on one application.
We had a group of 10 people, so we ended up submitting 5 applications for 4 people each (total of 20 permits), and got back 8 permits. It's tough!
Nice pair of gloves: you'll be grateful for them as you hang on to those cables as you ascend Half Dome. (There's also a stash at the base that people have left behind.)
At least 3.5 L of water/Gatorade. Especially if it's a hot
Headlamp, since you'll probably start while it's dark.
Snack bars and food – this is a tough hike!
Hiking boots. Don't even think about doing this without them.
Tip: Go up via the John Muir Trail. The Mist Trail is basically stairs the entire way, and I can't imagine having to go up that trail. Plus, the John Muir Trail gives you great views from high up along the ridge. (We came back via the Mist Trail.)
Kevin, Marion, Valerie, and I opted to stay in the park in one of the heated tent cabins in Half Dome Village (formerly known as Curry Village), and although a bit pricey for the accommodation, all of us were very glad we decided to do that. It's nice to be able to start hiking right away in the morning, and we were very relieved we didn't have to drive back to a hotel after the hike.
On Saturday, we woke up bright and early for the hike. By 5:30am, we were finally ready to head out! It was quite cold in the morning, but nothing that layers (which we quickly stripped off) couldn't solve! Since the shuttles in Yosemite Valley don't begin operating until 7:00am, we had to walk an additional mile or so to get to the Happy Isles trailhead.
Ready for the 17 miles roundtrip to the top of Half Dome! I promise we weren't nearly as chipper after the hike... :-P
As we began walking along the John Muir trail, the sun started to rise, and it was quite beautiful to see the first rays of sunlight start hitting the mountain ridges around us. It was a great incentive as we worked our way up the relentless switchbacks to gain a lot of elevation quickly. As we continued on, we got our first glimpse of Half Dome – but it was interesting since this was the BACK of Half Dome. It definitely threw us off on our geographic orientation a bit!
Our first glimpse of Half Dome from the John Muir trail!
After a while, we finally reached Nevada Falls and got a pretty lovely view of the falls from afar. From the John Muir trail, however, you are actually on TOP of Nevada Falls, so we couldn't get up close. Since this was the end of September and California is in a drought, Nevada Falls was a shadow of its usual self. Still lovely though!
Approaching Nevada Falls!
The great thing about nature is how peaceful and idyllic it can be!
After Nevada Falls, we hit a nice stretch of trail which was relatively flat and sandy, and because it was relatively exposed, it was nice and warm too! Unfortunately, it didn't stay that way for long, and soon enough, it was back to the relentless uphill.
By now, it's 8:30am and the sun is out, and the John Muir Trail has turned into a lovely, relatively flat stroll!
It got to a point where checking my phone to see how far we'd walked started becoming depressing. We'd walk for a while, I'd call for a break (I definitely was not in as good of shape as I thought I was, esp. for the uphill treks), and I'd be dismayed that we only covered another half mile or so since the last check. After trekking through what seemed like a neverending forest for a while, we finally broke through and caught a view of Half Dome, much closer than before!
Almost there... or so we thought.
Just when we were starting to get excited that we were covering the last mile, we found ourselves at the foot of a hill with stairs as far as the eyes could see. That was definitely a struggle, and it got scary too because part of it didn't have steps; you just had to kind of scramble up the rock. (Hopefully you have good hiking boots!) After about seven hours, we finally reached the subdome, where we took a long break before attempting the (in)famous last step: the cables. One word of advice: leave as much stuff as you can at the subdome. Nobody's going to steal it, and the cables are hard enough as it is without a ton of extra weight weighing you down!
Marion getting ready to ascend the cables.
Not going to lie, the cables were really tough for me, and it's tough for a few reasons:
By this point, I'd already hiked ~8 miles, mostly uphill. I was tired.
I have ZERO upper body strength, and although there are regular slats for you to put your feet on, they're relatively far apart. You have to kind of pull yourself up in between those slats. And when you look around and realize how high up you are, you end up gripping onto those cables for dear life!
There's traffic! There's two cables total for traffic in both directions, and the slats are wide enough only for two people to stand. Because this part is very tiring, people would also rest after every slat, and you had to communicate to let people pass you going down.
The view was fantastic (and kind of scary) as we went up. I think if I had more faith in my arms, I would have loved to take my camera out. Guess it'll just have to stay in my memories! :-/
Finally, I stumbled to the top – Kevin actually has a video of me struggling to hoist myself up the final stretch. The view was incredible! Half Dome was always this landmark, and although I knew it was high up, I didn't completely grasp just how high up it is. It was a beautiful day, and you could see into the Yosemite Valley and it was really lovely. Definitly worth the intense hike up! Amusingly, there was strong 4G signal at the top too – the National Park Service clearly knows what people want to do at the Top of Half Dome ;-)
Yosemite Valley! And this gives you a sense for just how high up you are!
Panorama from the Top of Half Dome!
After hanging around at the top for close to an hour and taking tons of photos, it was time to start heading down. Most guides recommend that you should turn around no later than 3:30pm to make it back to Yosemite Valley at a reasonable time. We made our way down the cables – in my opinion, down was a lot easier, esp. if you go down backwards – and basically scrambled quickly down the John Muir Trail and eventually the Mist Trail. Thank goodness we went up the John Muir Trail: the Mist Trail is ALL stairs, and it was pretty brutal to go down. (I don't want to think about how bad it must've been to go up!) On the way, we passed Nevada Falls and Vernal Falls, but at this point, we were all so dead that we had just one singular focus: to go home.
Half Dome Cables from the top. Time to head down!
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Nevada Falls!
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Vernal Falls!
By the time we reached the Happy Isles Bus Stop, we were all dying. For Marion and me, our legs actually started shaking with each step, and I ended up jogging down a significant stretch of the trail to try and make it easier on my legs. Valerie was basically trudging along like a robot, she was so dead. After four hours on the descent, we finally stumbled to the bus stop right as a Yosemite Valley shuttle bus arrived. We grabbed dinner at the Half Dome Village cafeteria and basically sat in bed the rest of the evening.
The next morning, we drove around Yosemite Valley a bit and got a few photos of Half Dome before leaving. We were all way too sore to do anything else!
Yosemite Valley from the Tunnels Lookout! Hard to believe we were all the way over there just the day before :-O
And it's a wrap: an awesome weekend with an awesome set of friends. :-)
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