OT: Yosemite Half Dome Permit Lottery

[Neves]

me and my family went last year and tried to get a permit for HD with not luck. our plan b was clouds rest. it was a great hike and
well worth it. i'd love to do it again, but be in better shape and not lug a crap ton of camera gear with me.

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by Neves

i'd love to do it again, but be in better shape and not lug a crap ton of camera gear with me.

agree. to me, the day hikes are best done on good fitness and minimal weight. while good photos are always nice, for me - someone has always taken a better picture than i could ever produce, so i prefer to just be there, take in the sights with my eyes and snap an iPhone momento photo or three. i leave those brilliant pics of the vistas to the pros.

[pdmtong]

way to go nick...!

can you share the total hike time and if you have it, the time when you split off the half dome trail to CR and then back to where you rejoin the HD trail. Ultimately i am trying to figure out how much longer or shorter the CR trip is versus the HD trip if starting from happy isles.

of course the HD trip has more stall time on the cables up and down plus more hanging out once on top.

A long time ago I was up on CR and would like to do that again - your trip great reminder of that hike if a HD permit falls through.

My brother and I did a 4 day trip from tuolumne meadows essentially following the high sierra camp route to the valley floor. very weird to see people in clean clothes popping out of tent cabins while we are just dirty and smelly. so we are on CR, then on top of HD then down mist trail to valley floor.

nothing too epic but its really nice being out there.

[nublar]

I was able to get a permit for 6 in September. I'm trying to get a Wilderness permit as I would prefer to squeeze in Clouds Rest but it doesn't seem possible at this point.

[Drmojo]

2 buddies and I climbed HD in 1979
No lottery
No crowds
No problem

[Black Dog]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

Well,

Didnt get the half dome permit either day I could have done it, so hiked to clouds rest via the valley (Tioga road was still close until the last day i was there!) - which is essentially the same hike as half dome but turning off for CR before summiting the dome. The CR section between the HD turnoff is the most strenuous part of the hike i think, so it was a great day and a big effort for me.

did a bunch of other great shorter hikes over a few days. Yosemite is arguably my favorite place on earth.

Top of the world. So nice.

[pdmtong]

Resurrecting this with an update.

Was able to get a HD permit for Saturday Sept 14 via the daily lottery. I submitted the recreation.gov lottery request Thursday morning and was notified successful at 2pm that afternoon (PST). I am pretty sure getting the daily lottery two years in a row is remarkable as there are only 75 daily permits available (the other 225 got to pre-season and wilderness).

We left the Happy Isles parking at 6:00am and got back 7:30pm. I must have been in better shape last year since this year it took longer. I attribute it to 1) an hour spent on top (versus 5 min last year due to weather), 2) returning via Mist Trail (precarious steps) instead of via JMT (smooth), 3) no dedicated training (walking, weights, cycling). My base fitness aerobically was fine, but not my power since I was a slug the month prior 4) heat fatigue (high-80's), 5) wait time going up and going down the cables ,and finally 6) sadly I must be getting older. I think the only way to mitigate a very late return is to start earlier, get in better shape or break it into two hikes, not an all up then all down marathon from the valley floor. If we started 5:15-5:30 that would be early enough to use lights on the "paved" trail to the bridge and the first steps on the Mist Trail, then sunrise would have enough light to do the steps without lights. Then again, not sure I would rather wake up 3:30am to get back 6:30 or sleep an hour more and walk the last smoother part in the dark.

The ranger checking permits was stationed at the base of the sub dome steps, not at the HD/CR interjection. Since someone slipped on the cables, fell and died two weeks before, everyone got a short talk from the ranger about cable safety. She also said the chances of using someone else's permit (if their group had a no show) is decent but one needs to get to the sub dome base early to wait as the folks roll into the check point. That would mean a 4:30am-ish start.

If you don't know, you have to hold onto the cable else you will fall a long way and die. Period. The people with harnesses clipping and un-clipping their carabiners around each pole are a hazard and congest the ascent/descent. Hazard in the sense that these people for the most part are putting more trust in their harness over assessing what they need to be doing to be safe in the first place. This time we passed three people who were freaking out halfway up, and one person quad cramping so hard they were sitting down.

It's not enough to be responsible for your own self. you have to be aware of whats going on with the folks around you. plenty of time I had descenders walk down with their 34liter packs right into me while I waited to let them pass. people - know your spatial position! and, did you know the poles are not attached into the hole they sit in? if you yank hard straight up, the pole comes out.

It was a long hard hike but the look of joy on my daughter's face when she came down off the cable was priceless. She more than conquered her angst/fear from last years weather experience.

Here she is on the ledge and there's my wife and I some 25 years ago. We did not pitch the tent on top like my brother and I did due to weather. I get too queasy going out on ledges like that now although when you stand on that part of the rock there is really nothing that indicates there is 4,800' of air below you. It is all mental.

[hokoman]

Originally Posted by pdmtong

Resurrecting this with an update.

If you don't know, you have to hold onto the cable else you will fall a long way and die. period. The people with harnesses clipping and un-clipping their carabiners around each pole are a hazard and congest the ascent/descent. Hazard in the sense that these people for the most part are putting more trust in their harness over assessing what they need to be doing to be safe in the first place. This time we passed three people who were freaking out halfway up, and one person quad cramping so hard they were sitting down.

It's not enough to be responsible for your own self. you have to be aware of whats going on with the folks around you. plenty of time I had descenders walk down with their 34liter packs right into me while I waited to let them pass. people - know your spatial position! and, did you know the pole are not attached into the hole they sit in? if you yank hard straight up, the pole comes out.

I was lucky enough to do HD about 9 years ago - randomly went up there for a day hike, and we ended up at the base and they had just finished putting up the cables. There were only like 5 of us around, so we went up. It is pretty slick and I can see why people would freak out. I don't think I would feel comfortable with a ton of people around me going up that thing. The caribiners - mixed feelings. I think it is good safety net, but would slow down the hike.

My friend did it years ago, and she had a hard time coming down, maybe because it was so empty and you could see all the way down. We went up and down with a German tourist on holiday - and he took a pic of us on the ledge. It is an amazing place, but not sure I would recommend it to just anyone to do. The hike up and back down was tough.

[weaponsgrade]

Great pics! I was in Yosemite this past summer with my kids. We did short bike ride/hike to Mirror Lake and floated down the Merced River in a raft. We didn't stay in the Valley, but for anyone going in the summer season and looking to park at Curry Village - get there before 9am! I think we got there around 8:45am and it looked like the parking lot was 98% full. Kids are still too young to tackle something like HD. Hopefully I'll still have the energy when they get older. I did HD many, many years ago and would love to go up again w/ my kids someday. Even back then I remember the cable section being really sketchy with some people almost paralyzed with fear and others swinging around big packs. My friend and I used the outside of the cable ladder to avoid the traffic.

[FlashUNC]

Great photos. Love Yosemite but no desire to head up on Half Dome, which is fine becuase there's plenty else to do in the park.

[NHAero]

Yosemite IMO is the most beautiful place on the planet, at least that I've been to, which includes five continents.

I hiked up HD many years ago, on a beautiful day without many people. This was on the last day of several days in the back country there, during which I saw zero people except for the first morning, and the last day hiking HD. I wonder if the rest of the place is still as empty as it was then!

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by NHAero

Yosemite IMO is the most beautiful place on the planet, at least that I've been to, which includes five continents.

I hiked up HD many years ago, on a beautiful day without many people. This was on the last day of several days in the back country there, during which I saw zero people except for the first morning, and the last day hiking HD. I wonder if the rest of the place is still as empty as it was then!

Even a couple miles away from the parking lots on the valley trail you stop seeing people, or at least we did this Spring.

Just an incredible place.

[pdmtong]

Originally Posted by hokoman

There were only like 5 of us around, so we went up. It is pretty slick and I can see why people would freak out. I don't think I would feel comfortable with a ton of people around me going up that thing. The caribiners - mixed feelings. I think it is good safety net, but would slow down the hike.

The first time I went up was with a full pack and those massive vasque soled hiking boots. It doesn't seem like 25 subsequent years of people on the slope would noticeably wear down the rock since that's a speck in geologic time but yes, it is really slick. and that makes the 7-8 ledge step ups and step down on the upper third really tricky. the people with carabiners use two: one stays on one side of the pole while they attach the other to the other side. so each section of cable means clip unclip twice. the problem is that the clipping is not the answer if one has poor forearm / grip strength to grasp the cables. Generally speaking everyone I saw with a harness was not as adept as those without.

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

Great photos. Love Yosemite but no desire to head up on Half Dome, which is fine because there's plenty else to do in the park.

I've been on top four times now and it's memorable. That said there are PLENTY of really fun things to do in the park that do not include death march hiking. A beer on the back deck of the Ahwahnee is pretty great. We did the easy walk out to Taft Point and saw a bear along the way which is very cool in some ways and cause for a lot of concern in other ways.

Fun Fact: that tent in the picture is the original NF VE-24. My aunt and grand-mother sewed for NF back when it was all made in USA and got it for me with their discount.

[72gmc]

I really want to go back to Yosemite.

I really don't want to climb HD because a) my wife wouldn't go with me, and b) too many stories about the problems other people cause. I already make a heavy trust investment in other people by riding a bicycle in city traffic.

Great pictures, all of you.

[AngryScientist]

Great pics and stories guys!

Definitely one of my favorite places on earth, Yosemite. I've been to a whole bunch of the big natn'l parks now, and Yosemite is still the gold cup IMO, but they all have their beauty and charm.

with regard to overcrowding, there is still plenty of solitude to be found. as i mentioned earlier in the thread, i did clouds rest from the valley, which is overall practically a 20 mile hike, depending on the route you take and where you actually start from, and for sure, after the turn-off to CR via the half dome trail, i had the trail to myself for the most part, maybe a small handfull of others.

additionally, the few times i've gone to yosemite, i stay just outside in Oakhurst, and the riding out there skirting the park is freaking awesome, and certainly plenty of solitude.

sure, the popular hikes out of the valley are always going to be crowded, but yosemite has SO much to offer, that there are ways to beat the crowds.