Hiking And Seeing Yosemite Half Dome Yosemite Half Dome stands 8,842 feet tall. A granite mountain that has been cut in half by the ice glaciers that passed through. When the glacier passed through it did not reach the top 900 feet of this rock. The galciers took out the jointed northwest side and the frost took out the front side of the rock. It is a very recognizeable part of Yosemite's landscape. The Ahwahneechee Indians were the ones who live in Yosemite Valley in the early days. The indians called half dome yosemite, Tissaack. They believed that a woman turned to stone because of her anger. This half-dome is that woman. Tears of sadness are still visible on her light colored face on the front wall. Peregrine falcons are birds that make their nests in the cracks and deep crevasse on this rock. Grab your binoculars and see if you can find a Peregrine falcon! Many love the challenge of going to the top of this landmark mountain! (I personally have hiked it three times!) To hike this is a 17 mile trek. It takes 10-12 hours to go up and back and can be done in one day. It is a difficult hike and I personally think anyone who is in shape and over the age of 12 can hike it if they are determined! There are four ways for you to get to the top! The first way is to start at the Happy Isles Trail and start walking up! You head up the Vernal Fall and Mist Trail. From there you keep going up the John Muir trail to Nevada Falls. From there you take the Yosemite Half Dome Trail to the top! The last 500 feet are cables that you use to go to the top. Cables are not up all year long (lightening can strike them). Cables are usually up by Memorial Day weekend which is in late May. (Here is a good tip...don't climb them the first month they go up. It is to crowded. The 15 minutes up the cable can take you 1-2 hours when it it crowded.) They come down after Columbus Day in mid October. In my opinion, the cables are not as scary as they may look. You have two cables with wooden slats between them. You put a hand on each cable and step on the slats and walk up. People go up and down the same way. The cables are at 45 degrees on the northeast side of the dome. It takes about 15 minutes to do the cable stretch...so your not on them very long. Please be curtious to those who want to pass you. The second way to the top is to start at Glacier Point. You can drive to Glacier Point and walk down and over on the Panorama Trail. This hike allows you to go down hill about 3/4 of the time. You are starting out higher than Nevada Falls. You walk down to Nevada Falls and then go up the Yosemite Half Dome Trail from there. Between Glacier Point and Nevada Falls you pass by Illioutte Falls. This waterfall is not seen from the valley floor. I have done this hike twice and it takes 10-12 hours. I think it is easier than starting at Happy Isles and going straight up and it has more scenic views of the valley. When you are heading back, do not go the same way that you came! Just follow signs down to Happy Isles, it is shorter and down hill! If you want to go this route, you need someone in your party to drive you up to Glacier-Point to get your started. There is no shuttle bus to take you up to Glacier Point. The third way to get you to the top of Yosemite Half Dome is to ride a mule or a horse! Yes, you can let the four legged beasts do the walking while you sit! They will take you as far as the cables. Animals do not climb cables so you must dismount at the cables! You climb the cables and in about 15 minutes...your at the top! The only draw back with riding a horse or the mule to the top is...time. They give you about 1/2 hour to go on to top and then they start heading back to the stables. (That gives you 30 minutes to go up the cables, down the cables and spend about 1 minute on top of the mountain!) It is nice to spend about an hour on top of the world after all the work that it takes to get there! Amazing enough it is still about a 10 hour round trip if you take a horse or donkey to the top. It is not the time saver that you think it might be! There is a forth way to the top of Yosemite Half Dome. It is for the professional mountain climbers! In the summer months it isn't hard to see them climbing up the face...grab your binoculars and watch the pros!
Anyone climbing Yosemite Half Dome must now have a permit in there possession if they are climbing on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and federal holidays. A maximum of 400 permits will be issued for each of these days. (Before the permit system, fewer than 400 people used this trail on weekdays, while about 800 people used this trail on weekends and holidays, on average.) Permits are now available up to four months in advance to one week in advance. Permits are available only through the National Recreation Reservation Service. They are not available in the park or on a first-come, first-served basis. A National Park Service Law Enforcement Ranger will be checking permits.
Here is an interesting fact: Permanent cables were installed in 1927. They are taken down every winter because of all the lightening.
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