Posted on: 06/19/2024
Last Updated: 07/26/2024 15 minute read

Introduction

If you are ever planning to visit Yosemite National Park, hiking the Half Dome is a must. The hike is simply a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you cannot skip over. I can put as many photos of the view here as I'd like, but it is incomparable to seeing it in person. In this blog, I will go over my personal journey to the Half Dome as well as everything you would need to be prepared. Please note that I hiked the Half Dome during Summer and most things in this blog are anecdotal.

What is the Half Dome?

The Half Dome is the iconic mountain of Yosemite National Park. Standing 8,800 ft above sea level, anyone driving into the park could see it clearly. You see this rock formation on stickers, posters, shirts, and almost anything involving Yosemite. The Half Dome trail is 16 miles round trip, 8 miles to the summit. Hiking the entire trail round trip should take most people 10-12 hours. Most of the trail (~7.5 mi single journey) is composed of hiking to the Subdome, which refers to the start of the rocky and cable part of the hike. The Half and Sub Domes are the parts in which you require a Half Dome permit. This means that you can legally hike most of the trail without a permit. I will go over the many ways you can obtain a permit in a later section.

Gear you need

This part is quite trivial, different people need different things, especially when it comes to food and equipment you already have. For this trip, you need however much food you think can last you 10 hours. However, keep in mind that you will be hiking most of the time and likely will not stop for a proper meal. The amount of food or water you need to carry is subjective for each person, but I will include how what I used for my trip to help as reference. Gloves, however, are absolutely necessary if you plan on climbing the cables. Most of the time you spend on the cables will be waiting for the people above or below you to keep moving. As such, you will find yourself dangling often. The last thing you want at this moment is to let go of the cables because your hands hurt or got too tired. As for footwear, anything that you are comfortable in should be fine- detail-oriented people often stress the need for proper hiking shoes, but they really aren't necessary as long as you can maintain a good grip. My running shoes were able to do the trick and I saw a kind couple hiking with sandals... though that's kinda crazy. If you start your trail any later than 8 am, you should be prepared with a flashlight (TIME DEPENDS ON HIKING SEASON, SEE SUNSET TIMES FOR MORE INFORMATION). The things I used for this trip (which I thought were absolutely necessary) included:

•  - 3M Comfort Grip Gloves
•  - Allbirds running sneakers
•  - 6 Energy Bars + Doritos
•  - At least 2 Liters of Water
•  - A Half Dome Permit
•  - Sunscreen
•  - A jacket

How to Obtain a Half Dome Permit

There are two main ways to obtain a Half Dome permit: in the pre-season lottery during March, and 2 days before your hike in the daily lottery. The chances of winning the pre-season lottery are about the same as the daily lottery which boasts a 20% win rate per-person. The daily lottery runs from 12 AM- 4PM. Each lottery ticket costs $10 USD. There are no benefits to signing up for the lottery early morning. Your odds of winning the lottery if you signed up at 1 am versus if you signed up at 3 pm are the same. However, if you want to increase your chances of winning the daily lottery, you should have more people sign up with you. In my case, I had my mom, my brother, and myself sign up for the lottery and only I won. However, since you can select up to 6 people per lottery ticket, I could still bring them on my permit. So this means if you travel in a group, each person would have a 20% chance of winning a permit for their entire group, given that they all buy a lottery ticket. After you win the lottery, an automatic $10 per-person will be charged. Keep in mind that the per person permit is refundable, but the lottery itself is not. Which means everyone that buys the lottery ticket pays a non-refundable $10; and if more than 1 person wins, just refund the other permits. The individual who won the permit must be present during the hike with a government-issued ID.
That being said, you don't necessarily need a permit for the hike. You could just do it illegally and pay a $250 fine per-person if you get caught by a ranger. That is, if you cannot find someone with an extra permit. Chances are, there are hikers travelling with unused permits because part of their party did not want to climb. You can oftentimes find hikers waiting at the bottom of the Subdome asking groups if they have extra permits. This was how I was able to complete my first hike up the half-dome. You can buy the daily lottery here.

Getting Ready

You don't really need to do anything special to get ready for this trip. Just think about it like walking a half marathon (with inclines). People of all ages should be able to attempt this climb, but they should be physically fit if they want to summit. It's great to attempt the hike, even if you don't believe you can summit. The view along the trail is breathtaking. Moreover, it is very easy to turn back wherever you are during the trail, even on the cables. Simply turn back and walk just as you would on any other trail. I did do a few jogs and practice hikes before Half Dome day to get myself mentally prepared. These included:

•  - 2x 4km Slope Hikes the day before Half Dome
•  - 2x 5km jogs the week leading up
•  - Weekly 17km Bikes the month leading up

What to Expect

It's a very long trail, so expect having to take several breaks throughout. Expect a breathtaking scenery and varying terrain such as sand, granite, steep rocks, and dirt. You should see two huge waterfalls along this route for most times of the year- early Summer and Spring. There are also always a lot of people throughout the trail and especially on the Half Dome. In my experience, all the hikers are extremely nice and more than willing to help you with photos, directions, or even snacks. Be sure to pay it forward :)
Unfortunately, this also means you have to wait for people during the cables. Some people have reasonable safety concerns and move at a secure (slower) pace, which means that the cables could take as long as 45 minutes round trip. However, the view at the summit is incomparable and is VERY worth the climb and wait. I cannot stress how important nitrile gloves are for the climb. If you lack them, the climb will be painful and possibly dangerous as you are more likely to slip. Luckily, people who have finished their climb sometimes offer gloves to those ascending. So if you forgot to bring gloves and you really want to climb, it's not the end of the world. Of course, it's much better to be on the safe side and just buy your own gloves. Nitrile gloves can be commonly found in hardware stores like Home Depot.

How do I get injured?

There are many ways you could get injured! Sometimes, turning back is a choice not made by you, but by the weather. If you see rainclouds forming near the Half Dome, it's best you turn back. The rocks on the Half-Dome get VERY slippery when wet. In fact, most of the people who die on the Half Dome died because they hiked during a storm or in wet conditions. Being struck by lightning or slipping on the Dome are both possibilities during a storm. The worst thing you can do at this moment is feel the need to summit or continue the trail.
Remember, in National Parks, YOU are responsible for your own safety. The National Park Service is not a tour group, they will only do the bare bare minimum to make the hike accessible. This means that if you think you can't climb the cables without personal safety equipment like a harness set, get them before your hike. Check the weather before you go, and know that the forecast is not always accurate. If you are ever unsure, err towards the safe side. You could always come back tomorrow, or even your next visit. Accommodations in Yosemite are easy to reserve, especially if you have camping gear. Wilderness permit (backpacking) reservations are almost always available- some of them even come with Half Dome access! This was the method I... forgot to mention above. lol. See the Yosemite National Park website for more information.
Hiking the Half-Dome is both rewarding and risky. Hikers looking to attempt the Half Dome should know their limits and be flexible in case the weather isn't accommodating. Understanding potential risks and how to mitigate them is the first step to a safe and successful hike. By the way, don't hike in wet conditions. Did I mention that yet?

My experience

Okie, now we done with all that we can move on to what REALLY matters, MY EXPERIENCE. So before the day (June 18th was when I climbed) even started, I was unsure if I was even going to climb the Half Dome, despite winning the lottery for June 19th. This was because I was originally planning to visit Stanford and Berkeley on the 19th, and it interfered with this hike. Moreover, my parents thought the climb was too dangerous and did not want me to go. Especially since I did not have hiking shoes nor "extra sets of underwear." However, by some miracles and a little bit of fairy dust, my parents made the spontaneous decision on the morning of the 18th to let me go. So I packed my bag with whatever I had at the time, (Doritos, 3 bottles of Smartwater, and energy bars) and we left our hotel at 4:30 AM. I just so happened to carry around a pair of nitrile gloves in my jacket at all times, so I was practically set. We arrived at the Yosemite South Entrance at 5 AM, there was no traffic at all. Only one car in front of us. This was likely due to the fact that they did not check entrance tickets at that time. Now that my family got into the park, the plan is to beeline for the Half Dome trailhead. Even though we had no idea where the trailhead was, or the parking area, we used a mix of google maps and the downloaded Yosemite map from the NPS app to locate the parking lot. There is limited reception in Yosemite. I included a picture of both the trailhead and parking lot above so yall don't have to go through this struggle like I did haha. Anyways, since our permit was not for the 18th but actually for the 19th. My mom and I were planning on asking hikers if they had extra permits. Almost like the craziest magic ever, right when we entered the parking lot, we found a group of hikers who had 2 extra permits! These very kind and cool people let me and my mom travel with them along the hike. They practically took us in and treated us as their own. I'm gonna have to work towards being as nice as them in the future. In my opinion, their company made my hiking experience 30x better~! I think I was able to get their contact, but I'm not sure if they want to be on this blog- so I'll keep them anonymous! But these hikers were REALLY experienced. Although it was also their first time climbing the Half Dome too, they talked of planning to complete the John Muir Trail afterwards. I aspire to be like them and complete the Johh Muir Trail one day too. At the start of the trail it was a bit chilly because, well, early morning. But as the hike went on, it gradually got hotter and hotter and jackets became hard to keep on. If there is a "perfect temperature" it would be about 10 am in Yosemite without a jacket on. Climbing up the trail is surprisingly easy. As long as you maintain a constant pace, you can be up the Half Dome in no time. The two major waterfalls I saw on this route included the Verna and Sierra Falls. These two falls were very beautiful and made amazing picture destinations. However during the Verna Falls route, the rocky trail was quite wet as a result of the mist. Be careful when proceeding here. This destination also gets crowded later in the day, however it was fine for us since we came early.
Throughout the route to the Subdome, my mom asked for frequent breaks since she was experiencing cramps. Nonetheless, she was strong and made it through up to the Subdome. I'm very fortunate to have such a strong mother. In my opinion, the Subdome was the easiest part of the hike. The Subdome refers to the jagged rocky climb before the cables. I thought it was easier because the path was more freeform and there were seat-shaped rocks everywhere to sit on. So while I was waiting for the rest of my party to catch up, I could rest and enjoy the view. When we got to the cables, my mom was horrified, she stayed on the top of the Subdome to wait for me and my 2 new friends to climb. I didn't think the cables were hard, I could hang on there for hours and there were wooden steps one could stand on while waiting for people to climb up and down. It's like checkpoints, jumping from one wooden step to another and standing on the step when you're waiting. That part was pretty easy. I can't describe in words or photos how pretty the summit looks, you'll just have to visit it yourself. Including photos of something so beautiful doesn't do it justice.
JUST KIDDING!!! HERE'S TWO OF MY FAVORITES:

In all seriousness though, it is so beautiful up there and it was nothing like the photos. Anyways, I spent about 15-30 minutes up here taking photos, munching on Doritos, enjoying the view. Then I started my descent down the cables, which was even easier than ascending because you are practically just sliding (BUT SAFELY PLEASE) whilst holding onto the cables and going from wood step to wood step. The REAL hard part, was when I started hiking the 8 miles back. During the 8 miles back, I was so tired that I could barely even look at the scenery, I just wanted to keep walking. My brain was on autopilot and my feet just moved back and forth. Even though I barely needed to take any breaks on the way back, it was extremely challenging.
All in all, this trip was so worth it, but I would probably never do it again haha. Since I live 5 hours away and such. However, I would recommend this hike to anyone without a second heartbeat. It's simply an amazing hike and evidence that we are all amazing people.
Be amazing, and show the world you can do it!!!

Citations and References

Half Dome Permit Statistics: https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/
hdpermitsapps.htm
Half Dome Daily Lottery: https://www.recreation.gov/permits/234652

Products(not affiliated):
Nitrile Gloves: https://www.homedepot.com/p/3M-Large-Nitrile-Gloves-10-Pack-90012H/202711089