Beginning in 2010, permits are required to hike half dome. There are 300 permits per day available and sell out within minutes of being
available. I ended up buying a permit on
craigslist from someone who changed their mind about hiking it.
I drove up on Saturday with Ed and the kids. On Saturday we explored the park and took a short hike to a waterfall. We stayed at a cabin in El Portal since everywhere inside the park was sold out. I started the hike at 5am, so the first hour was in the dark. Below is my first view of half dome around 6am.
And here I am taking a break to take a picture.
A view of Nevada Falls.
At the top of Nevada Falls watching the water fall off the edge.
It was probably around 7am when I got to the top of Nevada falls.
And then I saw a black bear right near the trail after Nevada falls.
Another view of Half Dome. It looks so far away!
I saw a deer on the trail too.
Getting closer...
The worst part of the hike was
sub dome. To get up
sub dome, you had to climb lots of rock steps. Going up, I just knew I would fall coming down. And sure enough, I did. I scrapped up and bruised my knee and then fell back hitting my backpack. Ouch!
Another view of the
sub dome trail and stairs.
The view from
sub dome was pretty. You can tell how high up I am already, and there is more to go!
This is looking up
sub dome. At this point I am just wondering how much further it is.
More steps. I felt like a mountain goat climbing this.
Wooo hooo. I finally can see half dome peaking over
sub dome.
If you look carefully, you can see the cables going up half dome.
And those little dots on the side are people climbing up.
I got to Half Dome around 10am and spent about an hour or so at the top. After climbing up the cables, my arms were so sore, I needed the time to recover before coming back down.
When I first saw the cables close up, I really started to think I was crazy for doing this. But, there was no way I came this far and not go all the way to the top. So, up I went.
I made it!
Sitting on the side. It sure is a long way down!
I am not sure why there were so many rock statues on top. But, they look cool.
And, back down I go. When I went up, the down looked pretty scary. But, it turned out that the down was much easier than the up.
In this picture you can see how steep it is climbing the side of Half Dome. This is taken from the cables on the side of Half Dome.
A view while heading back down.
My original plan was to take Mist Trail up and John Muir trail down, but when I got to the junction in the morning when it was dark, there was a group of people waiting blocking the way to Mist Trail, so I didn't realize I was on John Muir Trail until it was too late. It
definitely would have been easier to do John Muir Trail down because going down all the rock steps on Mist Trail was a very slow process at the end of the day, especially when I already fell once. This is Nevada Falls as seen from Mist Trail.
Nevada Falls.
This is a picture on top of Vernal Falls.
This is a picture of me with Vernal Falls in the background.
Another picture of Vernal Falls.
I finished the hike at 3:30pm, so the hike was 10 1/2 hours (including spending about an hour on top). The weather was nice for the hike. It was probably about 80. At the top of Half Dome it was cold and windy. I
brought 4 liters of water but only drank 2 1/2 liters. I brought 9 energy bars, but only ate 3 and gave some away to a couple backpackers who lost all his food to bears. After the hike, I had pizza at Curry Village. That pizza tasted awesome after a long day of hiking. I feel sore, battered and bruised from the hike, but it was an
awesome experience that I will remember.
I drove up on Saturday with Ed and the kids. On Saturday we explored the park and took a short hike to a waterfall. We stayed at a cabin in El Portal since everywhere inside the park was sold out. I started the hike at 5am, so the first hour was in the dark. Below is my first view of half dome around 6am.
And here I am taking a break to take a picture. 
A view of Nevada Falls.
At the top of Nevada Falls watching the water fall off the edge.
It was probably around 7am when I got to the top of Nevada falls.
And then I saw a black bear right near the trail after Nevada falls.
Another view of Half Dome. It looks so far away!
I saw a deer on the trail too.
Getting closer...
The worst part of the hike was sub dome. To get up sub dome, you had to climb lots of rock steps. Going up, I just knew I would fall coming down. And sure enough, I did. I scrapped up and bruised my knee and then fell back hitting my backpack. Ouch!
Another view of the sub dome trail and stairs.
The view from sub dome was pretty. You can tell how high up I am already, and there is more to go!
This is looking up sub dome. At this point I am just wondering how much further it is. 
More steps. I felt like a mountain goat climbing this.
Wooo hooo. I finally can see half dome peaking over sub dome. 
If you look carefully, you can see the cables going up half dome.
And those little dots on the side are people climbing up.
I got to Half Dome around 10am and spent about an hour or so at the top. After climbing up the cables, my arms were so sore, I needed the time to recover before coming back down.
When I first saw the cables close up, I really started to think I was crazy for doing this. But, there was no way I came this far and not go all the way to the top. So, up I went.
I made it!
Sitting on the side. It sure is a long way down!
I am not sure why there were so many rock statues on top. But, they look cool.
And, back down I go. When I went up, the down looked pretty scary. But, it turned out that the down was much easier than the up.
In this picture you can see how steep it is climbing the side of Half Dome. This is taken from the cables on the side of Half Dome.
A view while heading back down.
My original plan was to take Mist Trail up and John Muir trail down, but when I got to the junction in the morning when it was dark, there was a group of people waiting blocking the way to Mist Trail, so I didn't realize I was on John Muir Trail until it was too late. It definitely would have been easier to do John Muir Trail down because going down all the rock steps on Mist Trail was a very slow process at the end of the day, especially when I already fell once. This is Nevada Falls as seen from Mist Trail. 
Nevada Falls.
This is a picture on top of Vernal Falls.
This is a picture of me with Vernal Falls in the background.
Another picture of Vernal Falls.
I finished the hike at 3:30pm, so the hike was 10 1/2 hours (including spending about an hour on top). The weather was nice for the hike. It was probably about 80. At the top of Half Dome it was cold and windy. I brought 4 liters of water but only drank 2 1/2 liters. I brought 9 energy bars, but only ate 3 and gave some away to a couple backpackers who lost all his food to bears. After the hike, I had pizza at Curry Village. That pizza tasted awesome after a long day of hiking. I feel sore, battered and bruised from the hike, but it was an awesome experience that I will remember.
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