Yosemite National Park and Half Dome
First it has to be said that our trip was part of a larger 4 week road trip around the western states of America, but what trip to America could be complete without walking possibly the most challenging day route in Yosemite, the Half Dome cables. Its also worth mentioning that anyone wishing to climb the cables to the top needs to obtain a permit via an online lottery that takes place throughout the year run by the National Parks Service, the lottery ticket entry is available at https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/hdpermits.htm
The 16 mile round trip takes you a whopping 4800 feet above the lower Yosemite valley and is described as a “strenuous endurance hike”. As suggested by all the guide books we started out early at around 6:00am anticipating a 12 hour walk, parking at the Yosemite Valley trail head parking lot. We headed out along the mist trail, over a river and up a relatively gently sloping path through the woods towards our first goal Vernal Falls. The path is tarmac and gradually gets steeper and within around 30 minutes you reach the Vernal Falls footbridge which is also the last place you can get drinking water.
Beyond the footbridge the trail leaves the tarmac behind and quickly starts to steepen. We were lucky enough to spot a bear scraping through the undergrowth, minding his own business and keeping enough of a distance not to worry us as we had not hired any bear spray from the ranger service. The path then steepens and turns into a long stretch of slippery steps drenched by the mist from the falls giving this trail its name and opens up into a fantastic view of the falls themselves.
The falls are then navigated by a thin stretch of steep steps with a steel handrail for safety, opening up to a fantastic view of the falls, a place to rest and a nice sort for a photo. The trail then continues for another couple of miles along a forest trail and passed the base of the Nevada Falls eventually reaching a split in the trail, this is also the last place to use a conveniently placed composting toilet. At this junction right will take you on a short detour to the top of the Nevada Falls and left (the option we chose) will take you on the trail to Half Dome itself. The trail then soon levels out and you get to enjoy a little comfort as you walk along Little Yosemite Valley, but don’t get too complacent as the climb begins again all too quickly as you begin to ascend through a well established sequoia forest. Occasionally through the trees you will get a glimpse of Half Dome itself and the challenge still to come you may also encounter a park ranger randomly along the trail checking to see if you have the required permit to climb the cables to the summit.
The walk through the forest is not particularly hard and you quickly find yourself at the bottom of Sub Dome faced with an encouraging warning sign stating “Travel on Sub Dome and Half Dome is DANGEROUS”. You are then presented with a steep climb up some poorly formed steps and a bit of a scramble up steep, smooth, sloping granite until you reach the top of Sub Dome and the saddle that takes you to the base of Half dome and your first proper view of the cables. Its worth mentioning that the view from here are already stunning and if your not up for the cables themselves, the walk to this point is well worth the effort.
The final climb is a mere 400ft, but with the granite worn smooth by years of walking shoes it can become extremely slippy and without the cables would be almost impassible for the average hiker and even though the number of people are limited by the permit lottery it can still become quite busy as there is only one set of cables to accommodate people both ascending and descending. We had no gloves with us, however Tracey found a pair left by a previous walker to ease the pain (an advisable addition to your packing) and I carried on without. The climb is heavy on the hands and upper body as you pull yourself up the cables only stopping periodically to rest on one on the wooden struts that cross the path or to allow people coming in the other direction to pass. In our opinion the climb is not particularly hard in good weather, but it has to be said that if you are afraid of heights, the elevation and the drop offs to either side would make this a terrifying ascent, and also extremely difficult in wet conditions.
Reaching the top is a rewarding experience, not only for the staggering views, but also the sense of achievement it gives you. It took us approximately five hours to get there, but every step was worthwhile including the four to five walk back down still to come. You should allow yourself to linger a while and take in the views of the valleys below as they tumble away, stop for that photo moment on the edge of the cliff (but not too close) and allow yourself time to catch your breath before to attempt the walk back down. We both felt that sense of achievement in climbing to the summit, lucky enough to get the permits, lucky to be in Yosemite and lucky enough to be sat right there, on what felt at the time like the top of the world.
The return journey down the cables was equally as harsh on the hands and as as we had started out early it was also hampered having to stop for others climbing up. However we made it down in one piece and started the long trek back down along the same route as we had come, stopping briefly to soak our feet in the river that follows Little Yosemite Valley until we returned to the point at which the trail had split for the detour to the top of the Nevada falls. At this point you can choose to return the way you came back down the Mist Trail our take the detour and follow the Muir Trail, a slightly longer route (about an extra 1.5 miles). We decided to take in the extra route and follow the Muir Trail and were glad we did, not only is it slightly less steep, it offers you some stunning new views of the Nevada Falls and Half Dome at a distance.
The rest of the journey was un eventful, a repeat of the fabulous sights from the way up and a few new ones like an encounter with a rattle snake at the side of the path, another bear minding his own business and some wonderful birds.
We finally arrived back at the car at around 4:00pm, making our round trip approximately 10 hours. Hot, sweaty and very tired we decided to chance our luck at the campground showers to see if we could manage to freshen up. Walking straight in without even a whisker or being asked if we were residents or not we managed to both get a good hot shower and change our clothes before the journey out of the park and onwards towards Sequoia National Park…….But thats another blog in itself.
The Half Dome cables climb is one of those must do climbs, long and exhausting but thoroughly rewarding. Surrounded by fantastic scenery, rich wildlife and the odd challenge or two its a definite for anyone feeling the urge thats physically fit enough and has a head for heights
Watch a few of my YouTube videos through the links below of the descent of the Half Dome Cables
