17 miles of hiking • 4750' elevation gain •
A few weeks back we were lucky enough to score permits both the Half Dome permit area and a campsite in Yosemite Valley. Since both of these are rare finds in August, there was no way I was going to say no, despite the mild cold I had gotten a few days before.
We started from Upper Pines shortly before 6:30am, taking the John Muir trail to above Nevada Falls (junction of the Mist Trail) where we found quite a crowd of hikers taking a break before heading further up the trail to Half Dome. From there we were constantly playing leapfrog with multiple other groups all heading up the trail.
We reached the permit area, just below the subdome, a little after 11am where two rangers were stationed to check permits to their pre-printed list of permit holders. From there we were on our way up the stairs on the subdome. We reached the cable area around noon. At this point we took a few minutes to put on our climbing harnesses paired up with a daisy chain and carabiner to clip onto the cables. The cable area up half dome is steep and crowded. I don't have a fear of heights, but I do have a fear of falling from them so I wanted to make the trip up the cables as safe as possible. A short while and a few traffic jams later, we were at the top of Half Dome. We stayed at the top for a little over an hour, enjoying our lunch and our slightly smoke observed views of Yosemite Valley. The smoke was blowing into the area from a lightning started managed burn on Glacier Point Road.
After that it was back down the traffic clogged cables and back down the trail. This time we opted to take the Mist Trail for spectacular views of Nevada Falls and Vernal Falls. We were back in camp shortly after 7pm. Just in time for dinner and a bit of relaxing before sundown.
