When the cables are up, permits are required to climb Half Dome on Fridays/Saturdays/Sundays and federal holidays. ($1.50 per permit handling fee, none of which goes to Yosemite) 300 permits are available up to four months in advance (see the NPS website for the schedule), which meant I had to get up at 6:55am in order to turn on my computer, go to the website, and hover my mouse over the purchase button by 7am on May 1st. The tickets for Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend were gone by 7:05am. You could have also called in to order them too. Either way, you were limited to 4 permits per transaction; if you needed more, you had to start a new purchase online or call again. If you were unlucky to not get any, I had seen some for sale on Craigslist with a huge mark-up. I also heard stories of people begging around Curry Village, and people waiting for tired hikers to give their permits away at the sub-dome area. If you're backpacking, you can also get a Half Dome permit when you pick up your wilderness permit. If you rock climb up Half Dome (we saw a couple of guys do this), you can go down the cables without a permit too. So all is not lost if you wanted to hike Half Dome this month or next.
The most convenient campsites to stay at if you're hiking Half Dome are the Pines campgrounds. There are three of them: Lower Pines, Upper Pines, and North Pines. All are within short distance of the trailhead. You have to reserve them up to 5 months in advance...meaning same drill: wake up at 6:55am on April 15, turn on computer, go to website, click to purchase by 7am. ($20/night) All the Pines campsites were gone within 15 minutes. I managed to snag a campsite in the Upper Pines campground, at the furthest loop away from the road, which happened to be the closest to the Mist Trail trailhead. It was very convenient to wake up, get dressed, and walk about 200 yards to the trailhead. This helped get us on an early start to the hike, compared to staying at a campsite an hour away.
The campsites were really close together, and very crowded. Your neighbor's tent would be 5 feet away. Hardly any privacy compared to the campground we stayed at last September in the high country, but that is the price to pay for convenience. Many popular areas of Yosemite Valley were just 1 or 2 miles away from the Pines campgrounds. On busy weekends, I would recommend walking/hiking/biking to where you want to go, versus taking the car. It got so crowded on the road due to lane closures and massive amounts of people in the park that it was definitely faster to walk or bike.
It was a 4 hour drive to the campsite via Hwy 16, Hwy 49, and Hwy 120 through the Big Oak Flat entrance. Took advantage of the annual pass! It would have been a $20 entrance fee per vehicle, good for 7 days. Setting up camp was easy and we grilled up turkey burgers for dinner. I like to bring my Weber Q100 grill as it is lightweight, compact, heats up fast and uses inexpensive blue welding propane bottles from home improvement stores. I wasn't the only one with this grill...the neighbors to the right and left of us also had the same model!
The squirrels at the campground have no fear, and I could take a picture inches from its head. One of the squirrels tried to pull my cookies off the table!
Our neighbors to the right, Ed and Connie, came over to introduce themselves and offered their hospitality. I have never seen anyone bring so much alcohol to a campsite, and it was only their stash! (they also had friends at nearby campsites with their stashes) They said that this year they decided to stay at a campsite versus the usual backpacking trip carrying up alcohol and Connie's favorite jumbo margarita glass. How is that possible?
We went to bed early in anticipation of our Half Dome hike the next day. Unfortunately, quiet hours didn't start until 10pm. (which really meant closer to 11pm by the time the rangers policed their way up the campsites)
The next morning, we slowly made our way out of the tent and onto the Mist Trail by 6:45am, though I had hoped to start at 6am. But this is better than normal, since most people don't start the trail until several hours later, after they've cooked their bacon and eggs and had their coffee. The Mist Trail is a doozy. It's deceptively steep approaching Vernal Fall, even though it is paved most of the way. Then the stone steps towards Nevada Fall are grueling. I had to catch my breath at several spots between Vernal and Nevada Fall. There wasn't much water flowing, but at least there was some, compared to the bone-dry Yosemite Falls. There were beautiful views at the top of the falls.
A few miles past Nevada Fall, we saw a mama and baby deer foraging off the trail. The baby deer was also suckling. As we were lightly treading past them, the deer weren't too afraid of us, but were on alert. Once we got closer to Half Dome, panoramic views opened up.
Around 10:40am, we made it to "sub-dome", which I had also heard hikers on the trail refer to as the "evil stairs" and the "stairs of despair". This was the last bit before the Half Dome cables. This was also where a ranger was stationed to take your permits. There was a group of about 8 people waiting there, who only had one permit amongst them from a tired hiker earlier in the morning. We overheard the ranger telling them that since there weren't a ton of people passing through, that he would let them go around 11:20am, which was really cool. Babe and I hardly saw anyone from Nevada Fall onward, and only a handful had overtaken us or passed us in the opposite direction. I don't think 300 people went up that day at all.
The ranger tore our permits and we were off to conquer the evil stairs. These stone stairs felt worse than the ones between Vernal and Nevada Fall, and exactly how I had remembered them. My calves and quads are still aching as I am typing this. Almost as bad as the Picacho Peak hike a few months ago. Since I was an old fart, I had to stop several times to catch my breath while Babe waited patiently, such a good guy. We saw a couple of mountain climbers come down. At last, we reached the base of the cables. Piles of used gloves were strewn about, same as the last time I was here. This time, I was smart enough to bring my own to avoid wearing a just-worn, warm, sweaty, ill-fitting pair with holes in it.
The cables were held up by pairs of poles, and a wood stud was attached between each pair. They aren't exactly 2" x 4"s, more like 1" x 4", so it was hard to rest your foot entirely on it. Some upper body strength was required as I had to pull myself up in several places where wooden boards were missing. There were also people coming down the cables, so sometimes I'd have to hang on to one side of the cables while the other person passed. I did not look down too often, and if I did, I'd only focus on the previous pole to alter my perception. Had I looked for the base of the cables, it may have revealed the steep angle! Some people had tied themselves with rope with carabiners hooked up to the cables just in case. We spent more time than expected on the cables since the guy near the top was experiencing leg cramps and had a hard time moving from board to board. His friends were cheering him on and did not want to pass him. I wanted to pass, but I stayed patient in order not to jinx the good hike vibes. The guy behind me remarked, "Are they having a picnic up there?" But we finally make it to the top! Yay! Awesome views! It's hard to capture the magnificence of the surroundings with a camera, so here are some pictures contrasting tiny human with nature's grandeur:
We spent about an hour on Half Dome, eating lunch and enjoying the views. I wanted to head down the cables before the leg cramp guy. Going down was so much easier...if you faced the right way. Most people were going down face first. That is scary, and conducive to falling. Babe and I climbed down facing the rock wall, just like going down a ladder. Babe pretty much slid his way down. I was getting tired, plus my gloves were very grippy, so I couldn't slide down, but I moved quickly like a monkey. There were a lot more people coming up the cables as it was later in the day, and most were tired and/or freaked out. As I passed them, I told them how far they were from the top, and that it was very easy to come down as long as they faced the wall. A lot of them were relieved to learn this. That's me in the middle of picture, making my way down:
I made it to the bottom, looked up and saw the leg cramp guy going down...face first. It probably took a long time for his group to get down. :(
Taking the trail downhill was a lot easier, even on the stairs of despair, though my legs were aching. We saw a trail runner sprinting down. You'd have to be in great shape to run the trail! By the time we reached Nevada Fall, the Mist Trail had gotten very busy and the foot traffic slowed us down considerably. I didn't mind the slowness too much at this point, as the steps were killing my knees. I was amazed to see a mother carrying what looked to be a 3 month old on the Mist Trail. You could trip and fall on the pebbly rocky steps. I was glad that there wasn't a lot of mist in the air, else the steps would be really slippery.
We made it back to the campsite by 5:15pm, still daylight and made pretty good time despite the slowdown on the Mist Trail. The last time I descended from Half Dome, it was in the dark (started late though). Grilled up some short ribs for dinner, lit a fire and made s'mores, yum! Babe is an expert at toasting perfectly caramelized gooey marshmallows. Ed came by and invited us over for tri-tip, but we had already eaten. They had grilled three tri-tips for their group and had way too much food. (and too much alcohol, hehe)
We drove to nearby Curry Village (I was not going to walk two miles roundtrip after doing Half Dome!) to take a well deserved hot shower ($5/person). There was a long line but the wait was only about 15 minutes. I was so tired, I went to bed early, around 8pm. Babe's friends joined the campsite later in the night...they had camped in Bass Lake the night before, and planned to hike Half Dome on Monday. Sunday would be a leisurely day.
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