Yosemite; what can I say about this place that hasn’t already been said, and where do I even start. If you’re someone like me who loves the endless beauty that our amazing earth provides us with, then you too would be speechless at the sight of this place. John Muir said “But no temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite. Every rock in its wall seems to glow with life” and after seeing it myself, I can attest to his claims.
The best way to enjoy our Earth’s beauty is by diving deep into it and no amount of driving by will give you the same abundance of pure joy. For my friends and I this meant a four day backpacking trip in the astonishing Yosemite wilderness.
The idea struck like most these days do; seeing a TikTok with the title “The Most Dangerous Hike in America”. In the video, the tiktoker pans up to the sight of the Half Dome cables and all of the hikers climbing to the top. The trek is steep and quite a climb. I shared this video with Ingrid and jokingly said, we should do this hike. Before I knew it, we were turning this dream into a reality.
There were three major things to even make it possible to conquer Half Dome.
A permit through Yosemite National Park is required to climb the cables.
To secure a permit meant we would either have to enter the lottery for the day hike up or we would have to secure a wilderness permit beginning from one of the allotted trail heads that would then allow us to add a Half Dome permit when we got there.
We would need to secure a wildness permit when the lottery opened up 24 weeks in advance to our decided dates.
After realizing this, we came to the decision to aim for the week of memorial day, which also happened to be the first week the cables went up. I made my way to recreation.gov when the lottery opened up in December and applied for our permits. An agonizing week passed as we awaited the results… then I got the email; we won the lottery! We quickly booked flights into Fresno and waited 6 months for the time to come.
Things to Know About the Cables Before You Go
Be prepared. I cannot tell you how many people were not prepared when they reached the cables. We saw so many people get to the ranger station without a permit, or make it to the base of the cables and didn’t have gloves.
Gloves
The biggest thing to know about attempting to climb the cables is you’ll need gloves to get a good grip and save your hands. The cables are rough on your hands since you’re mostly pulling yourself up with your arms. Ingrid and I used leather Petzl repelling gloves, but a lot of people used rubber gardening gloves, which after attempting the cables, I would say performed better than the leather. If you don’t wear in the leather, your hands might slip like mine did and keep you from continuing up to the summit.
Usually there’s a stack of disgarded gloves at the base of the cables, but I would NOT count on finding a good pair; bring your own. A lot of these left over gloves developed holes from the friction of going back down the cables.
Traffic
Along the way, there are wooden planks that are about 10 feet apart where you can stop and rest. The common courtesy when going up the cables is to stay on the right side, and when someone going down passes you, scoot over out of their way. Going back down is far scarier than going up for most people.
When going down, try walking down backwards. When facing forward, most of your weight ends up being over your feet since its more natural to lean forward when walking. By going backwards, you’ll be able to hold both hands on the cables and kind of repel yourself down.
A way some people try that I wouldn’t suggest if its congested, is to sit down and slowly slide down on their butt or feet while holding the cables and stopping at each plank of wood.
What comes with you, stays with you
One thing to note is whatever you carry with you on the hike, you must bring up the cables as well. This is something we didn’t know ahead of time and had to bring our mostly loaded packs with use. Due to tourists feeding the wildlife, the ravens, squirrels and marmots will tear into your bag for any scrap of food you may be hiding. You can leave bear cans as well as excess water at the ranger station at the base of sub dome to shed some weight. Once you get to the cables, you can also leave your trekking poles.
If you’re a backpacker my suggestion would be to set up camp ahead of time before going on the cables and bringing a small day pack with you for the summit. If we had known this beforehand, we definitely would’ve opted for slack packing.
Day Hikers
If you’re just day hiking, get started early. The trail to Half Dome is a long and taxing 7-8 miles up with almost 5,200 feet of elevation gain. Thats only one way, meaning you’ll have to turn around and hike an additional 7-8 miles after tackling the cables.
The route begins at the Happy Isles trail head which you can get to by taking the free shuttle from the Visitor’s Center. It goes up along the Mist Trail up to the base of Vernal Falls where you can choose to take the steps up Mist Trail, or detour and take the switch backs up to Little Yosemite Valley along the John Muir Trail. 5 miles up to LYV campground the trail will fork and you’ll continue up where you see the sign for Half Dome. You’ll reach the base of Subdome where the ranger station is and then you’ll begin your ascent up the granite steps. They’re steep and there is no railings, so if you’re scared of heights, take your time. From here, you’ll trek up until you reach the base of Half Dome in the saddle where the cables begin.
Be sure to bring plenty of water as well as a water filter. The last spot to refill is just behind Little Yosemite Valley Campground before finishing the last two miles to the top. Once you reach the ranger station where a Park Ranger will check for your permits as well as the ID of the permit holder. If you don’t have one, you can’t continue up. If you choose to do the Cables without one, be prepared to pay a hefty fine.
Backpackers
Making a Reservation
If you’re like us and enjoying immersing yourself fully into the backcountry, backpacking is the way to go. It’s also the best way if you enjoy taking your time on the trail and don’t like getting up before the sun rises to hike.
To be eligible to add Half Dome onto your permit, you’ll want to make sure you are starting your trek from one of these trailheads.
Happy Isles to LYV
Glacier Point to LYV
Happy Isles past LYC (Donohue pass eligible)
Sunrise Lakes
Cathedral Lakes
Rafferty Creek to Vogelsang
Mono Meadow
Once you get to Yosemite to retrieve your permits at one of the ranger stations, you can then ask to add Half Dome.
What to Know when Making Your Reservation
If this is your first backpacking trip in Yosemite like it was mine, you’ll have to know your itinerary when making the reservation. You can either call a ranger and ask for help or figure it out yourself by looking at the map on Yosemite’s website. It’s important to note that your first night will have to be in Little Yosemite Valley Campground if you’re beginning from the valley and your entry point isn't Happy Isles past LYV. For us this meant our first day was only going to be about 4 miles. Any other night in the backcountry, you can camp anywhere in the park as long as it's 100 ft from the trail and 200 feet from a water source. You can only have a fire if there’s already a fire pit, and it’s encouraged to find spots to set up that have been used before to lessen the impact of tents on the vegetation.
Before and After your Trek
One day prior and one day after your backpacking trip, you’re allowed to stay in the Backpackers’ Campground. It’s not clearly marked on Yosemite’s website or their map, but after asking some workers we discovered it’s behind the Upper Pines Campground. To get there, take the shuttle to Upper Pines, walk along the road through Upper Pines until you reach the sign and a river crossing that’s labeled Backpacker’s Campground. You’ll need to bring $7 per person and hang a tag outside of your tent that includes your names, tent description as well as your permit number. Make sure to bring cash since this is the only method of payment accepted here.
The backcountry campground is pretty nice featuring bear lockers, fire rings and multiple bathrooms with hand sanitizer. If you want to shower, you’ll unfortunately have to head over to Curry Village. As long as there isn’t an attendant, the showers are free and also equipped with shampoo and body wash. If there is someone working the bathrooms, you’ll need to have $5 per person for the showers, but an added benefit of paying is you’ll have a towel to dry off if you didn’t carry one with you. When we arrived, no one was there so we had to air dry, but if you’ve ever gone five days without a shower, the shower in itself is magical enough so we didn’t mind the extra wait time.
Our Itinerary
When we made our reservations, we had a plan to complete a 35 mile loop that included Half Dome. This being said, be flexible and always be okay with a backup plan.
Day 1: Happy Isles to LYV Campground
On Day 1, we shuttled from Fresno to Yosemite through the YARTS bus. It was about a 3 hour drive, but depending on what time you choose to leave, will add some time if the park entrance is busy. In order to pick up your backpacking permit, you have to arrive by 10 or go to recreation.gov and request a late pickup. This is what we did since our shuttle wasn’t scheduled to arrive until after 11.
Once we arrived at Yosemite, we went to the ranger station and grabbed our permits and bear cans (which are required in Yosemite). We spent the next couple of hours rearranging our bags and bear cans and grabbing lunch at the Village Grill before setting off for the trailhead. Since we knew we’d only have 4-5 miles on the trail this day, we weren’t in any rush.
After lunch, we took the shuttle to Happy Isles and filled our water bottles from the river before beginning our Apple Watches and taking off onto the Mist Trail. Be warned that the first 2 miles are pretty packed with people since it’s a popular trail. The beginning of the trail is also paved. One mile in and we made it to our first landmark; the base of Vernal Falls. Here the trail split - to the left continued the Mist Trail, and to the right the John Muir Trail. After speaking with a ranger, who told us about the lack of traction along the stairs on the Mist Trail, as well as how heavy our packs were, we decided to take our first reroute and go up the John Muir Trail. In the winter if you plan on summiting Half Dome, this is also the route you’ll take since the Mist Trail closes down.
In my mind, the JMT ended up being smoother, as the grade wasn’t too steep and it took you along switchbacks to the top of Vernal Falls as opposed to having to climb a ton of stairs.
At the top of Vernal Falls, we kicked off our shoes, soaked our feet in the freezing river and refilled our water. We took our time soaking in the views and snacking as well to refuel us from all the calories we had just burned. Once adequately rested we trekked on towards Little Yosemite Valley Campground. Another 2 miles and we made it to our first campsite of the trip.
We were all pretty tired at this point from our lack of sleep the night before along with our long travel day, so we dropped our packs, hopped into our trail shoes and began cooking dinner. For anyone new to a wilderness area where animals are used to being fed, KEEP YOUR FOOD IN THE BEAR CAN. Along the way, we kept noticing how friendly the squirrels were and how comfortable they were around humans. We quickly found how bold these squirrels were when cate walked away from her granola bar and a squirrel came by and ran off with it. Though he was chunky and slow, after a few minutes of Cate chasing him, he burrowed into a tree and the granola bar was to never be seen again. Shortly after, we witnessed a raven taking to the wind with someone’s food in talon.
Overall our first day was wonderful. We were able to pace ourselves well since we had several hours to make it to camp. After we ate dinner and set up camp, we changed for the evening wand enjoyed the company of others around a nice campfire.
Day 2: LYV to Half Dome and back to the JMT
\Day two was the day we were to summit half dome. We had a somewhat sluggish start to the morning but by the time we ate breakfast, packed our bags and set off it was only 9 AM. Knowing we had Half Dome to tackle as the first destination of the day, we took our time. We left camp along the JMT then split off onto the Half Dome Trail after about a mile and a half. Up up and up we went, taking short breaks for snacks, water and more importantly the views. Yosemite is so stunningly beautiful that we didn’t want to rush through our hikes and miss out on any of what it had to offer. We wanted to soak up every single step.
Around 12 we made it to the ranger station at the base of Sub Dome; the granite steps. Here we spoke with the ranger who checked our permits and made us aware of the fact that we would have to take our entire packs up to the top. Luckily we were able to leave our bear cans and any excess water we think we wouldn’t need at the ranger station. After realizing it would take about 2-3 hours we sat at the base of the steps and refueled with our lunch. For me that was pita bread stuffed with salami and cheese, and a lot of water. Each of us picked a snack to bring with us and we started the climb to the cables.
I’ll be honest, the granite stairs terrified me. Usually when you’re on a set of stairs you’re used to having railing on at least one side. The sheer drop to the bottom, along with how large the steps were - meaning a big stride is required - and the sharp switchbacks had me humbled. I slowed down our group significantly as I took a break every several steps to regain the mental strength to keep going up the steep rock face. My friends are great though and were extremely patient with me until we finally reached the saddle where there were no more steps; only the sheer face of Half Dome staring at us where we saw how ant like the other hikers looked as they carried on up the cables to the summit.
For one final time before continuing on, we took a quick break, gloved up and got ready to start the climb. This is where my fear of dying kicked in very quickly. The first few feet up the cables, I realized the error of my ways in choosing leather gloves that I hadn't worn in as my hands that were gripping as tight as possible along the steel cables slid down. I decided then and there to back out but Ingrid and Cate kept going, eventually reaching the summit and soaking in the amazing views of the Valley and El Capitan.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more at peace with my decisions to turn something down. My FOMO and anxiety of having people think I’m not good enough has lessened as I know what all my body is capable of and I felt good in my decision to wait it out. I ended up meeting a fellow backpacker and we chatted the entire time while we both waited on our friends to get back down. During my wait, we also witnessed an energetic young hiker wearing socks and toeless Chacos essentially run her way to the top while her friends encouraged her to slow down.
Two hours later and I saw the tiny silhouette of Ingrid and Cate making their way back down. Buckle up for the cables because I swear I watched them slowly make their way over the next 45 minutes. Just in time for us all to witness Chaco Girl (as I named her) make her way to the saddle as she sat on her feet screaming as she slid down holding on to the cables overhead. If I were to only give one piece of advice, don’t wear sandals without a toe strap.
After posting a video later to TikTok trying to find Chaco Girl, she reached out and clarified that she had been on a skiing road trip and her group decided last minute to get same day permits for half dome and she unfortunately didn’t have any hiking shoes with her for the trek.
Around 4 PM, Ingrid, Cate and I began the trek back down to find a campsite for the night. We headed back down Half-Dome trail until we came to the intersection with the JMT. About 1 mile after the intersection, we stumbled upon the perfect campsite. It was close to a nearby stream with a mini waterfall, there was a fire ring and most importantly the ground was perfectly flat and prepared for our tent. After refilling our water for dinner, Cate and I staked up the tent then quickly headed to the mini waterfall and soaked our feet in the glacial water until they were numb. If you’ve been backpacking before, you know how amazing this feels after having been on your feet with a full pack on all day.
Dinner wasn’t the best for Cate and I as our backcountry Mac and Cheese was clumpy and bland. Adding crumbled crackers to it made it a bit more bearable though. At least we had a campfire and an amazing day on trail to look back on. After many laughs, we finally settled down and slept through the night.
Day 3: JMT to Forsyth Trail and up to Clouds Rest
Day 3 was going to be our biggest day. We had 3,000 feet of elevation gain to tackle over 6 miles to reach the summit of Clouds Rest. With this is mind, we reluctantly got out of our tents, gobbled down breakfast, refilled our water, packed up and got back on the trail by 8. The climb wasn’t too steep, slow and steady and it took us 2 miles along the JMT before splitting left onto the Forsyth trail. Prior to now, we had been in the cover of the trees. That cover dissipated as we entered into a burn scar. We couldn’t figure out which wildfire had left the treed leafless and black, but it was still beautiful to see what mother nature could do.
As we hiked along the Forsyth trail, we ran into a group of Yosemite Conservatory workers who were clearing the trail of fallen trees and debris. Without people like these, the trails wouldn’t stay as nice and maintained as they currently are. They’d be overgrown and littered with fallen trees you’d have to climb over, therefore slowing you down.
Finally we made it to the base of the Clouds Rest Trail. The trail that was going to take us to the highest point we had ever hiked to up until this point; just shy of 10,000 ft.
After having hiked uphill nonstop for 4 miles, we decided this intersection would be a good spot to stop for lunch. Since we were in a burn scar we also reapplied our sunscreen to our exposed skin and sat a bit before we had another 1,000 feet of elevation gain to climb. At 9,000 feet we were starting to feel the air getting thinner and knew we’d be taking our time catching our breath on these last two miles before summiting Clouds Rest.
Once lunch was done and we had a few minutes of procrastinating we set off. Stopping frequently for water as my mouth dried out from the California climate and to give our lungs a chance to catch up to the demanding elevation. Due to the low snow fall in the season prior, there wasn’t too much snow so luckily we didn’t need any crampons or ice picks to help us on this last section. If we had been there a week or two before, we probably would have needed them.
After hiking almost two miles, we reached the section where the top of the mountain narrows and trekking poles had to be put away as we somewhat scrambled up the rocks. We saw the sign “Clouds Rest”. This is another section of trail where my fears of dying kicked in, as a wrong step or slip would have you plummeting down. We made sure to all take our time, being sure footed until we finally reached the top; almost 10,000 feet up we could see all around us. Half Dome, El Capitan, the valley floor. Surrounded by the Sierras still snow capped peaks as far as our eyes could see. We could see the deep blue of Tenaya Lake. A view so spectacular we didn’t want to leave, so we didn’t. Sitting there taking it all in, staring at where we had been the day before; Half Dome which was now 2,000 feet below us. What was so grand was now so small and far in the distance, though still overlooking the Valley. Sitting there we couldn’t help but wonder how many people were climbing the face of Half Dome, and we could barely distinguish where the cables we had been on yesterday were other than the discoloration on the dome from years of feet honing the granite smooth. Though Half Dome had been a feat for Cate and Ingrid, we all agreed that Clouds Rest was just so much more than we would have ever imagined.
An hour had passed since we reached the summit and we decided it was time to start the descent down the Pinnacles. Switchbacks all the way back down for four miles until camp, and at one point Ingrid had begged to find a spot along the way near water. We were all tired from the climb and ready for dinner and a fire. Unfortunately we didn’t see any good spots along the way. About a mile from the bottom I was so tired of going down that I decided to run. I had a second wind and my energy levels were up. As much as I wanted a downhill section on the climb, once I had it, it became monotonous and I was ready for it to be over. I would go for a section, yelling along the way to notify any bears in the area that I was there and then would pause until I saw Cate catching up. Finally I reached the end where the Clouds Rest Trail intersected with the JMT.
The previous day at camp while looking for a spot to dig a cat hole, I stumbled upon another campsite that also had a fire ring. So we didn’t have the same campsite two nights in a row, we chose to cross the stream to set up there. Ingrid after regaining some spunk decided she needed to start the campfire since she hadn’t built one before on any of our prior treks. Cate and I gave her some pointers as we watched her light up when the wood caught fire. Coming from the humid east coast, it was way easier to build a fire in Yosemite. The wood here caught quick from the dry climate.
Sitting around, we all reflected back on our day. I decided to give a speech after a bit of peer pressure and I started with Cate and it began a little something like this.
“Cate, I didn’t think I was going to like you when we first met...”
The three of us burst into laughter as I later explained what I meant in the rest of my speech.
Some time passed before we decided it was time for sleep. We packed away our bear cans, Ingrid put out the fire and we all snuggled into our three person tent. As I was almost asleep, I kept hearing the crackling of wood, and asked “Is the fire still going”. I peeped up half asleep and saw a glow coming through the tent wall.
I was voted to get out and put the fire out, so I reluctantly grabbed my headlamp and got out. I doused the ashes with water, and spread out the sticks as much as possible within the fire ring then climbed back into the tent. Later on Cate woke up to pee and the fire was still barely glowing and flickering. She did her best to put out the stubborn embers and after assuming the fire was out, she came back in and we all fell asleep.
Day 4: JMT back down to Happy Isles Trailhead
When we woke, to our surprise the fire was still smoking! A piece of wood I had put in that night must have been super dense and refused to burn out. We went with it since we didn’t have any rush to get back down to the Valley and added on, having a nice morning fire with our breakfast.
After refilling our water, we packed up camp and started to put the fire out. For some reason this fire was super resilient and refused to go out. Finally we got it out after a few trips to the stream and headed back down the JMT to the valley. For whatever reason, today we passed by so many other backpackers. In the previous days on trail we mostly ran into day hikers. The first were a pair of older gentlemen who were preparing for Half Dome. They were in their 70s and we all bonded over the hatred of our bear cans. They were bulky, hard to pack, and didn’t even fit all of our food that we had brought along for the trip. We listened to them as they told us about their years of backpacking experience and finally we left and continued our trek.
We passed by Little Yosemite Valley Campground and the mosquitos were out with a vengeance. As we were swatting them off of us, we passed another group of backpackers and Ingrid took one for the team asking if they had any bug spray we could spritz ourselves with. They were kind enough to give some of theirs up and we dowsed ourselves.
A mile later and we reached the top of Vernal Falls. Our timing was impeccable as two horseback riders along with their pack of mules passed by us. The JMT is a popular trail for horseback riders. We hadn’t gone through too much of our water, but we decided to go ahead and refill water here once more. At this point we only had about 3 miles left of our trek and we mindlessly went down the switchbacks. Along the entire trip we had mostly stayed within 15 feet of another, but burgers were on our mind so everyone was going a bit faster. Cate and her long legs was a switchback or two ahead of Ingrid and I. I was the only one without a camelback so I had to stop and pull out my Nalgene each time I wanted to drink. After a few water breaks, Ingrid was also a couple switchbacks ahead of me.
At the bottom of Vernal Falls we all caught up with each other and took a short break for our feet. From this point we only had another mile. This mile was the longest and shortest at the same time. Along the way we saw our first Rattlesnake as it rattled on at Cate when she passed by. This was our last break before reaching the end. We watched as an overly courageous squirrel decided to taunt him.
Once we had reached the bottom, we looked at our trackers and realized the burgers must have been deeply engraved into our subconscious as this mile took us the least amount of time to complete between 15-20 minutes, depending on if you had long legs like Cate, or short like mine. The three of us hobbled over to the bus stop, quickly switching into our camp shoes and eagerly awaiting our arrival at Yosemite Village.
Burgers were exactly what we needed as we sat outside pointing out all the other backpackers we saw. Many were PCT hikers, and only a few were here for just Yosemite. Being that I’ve always wanted to thru hike the AT, and more recently the PCT, I was enamored by them.
Shortly after our burgers and waiting for the buses to take us to the backpackers camp ground, we met three more PCT thru hikers, one of which stood out the most - Energizer. As we rode the bus we learned that they were all from the Netherlands, but had never met until hiking the PCT this year. If I’ve learned one thing about backpacking, you meet the best people in the most beautiful places.
That bus ride was full of laughter as we all chatted with one another and Cate challenged a kid to do the most pull ups on the upper railing of the bus, all of which was caught on camera thanks to Energizer.
After setting up camp and getting ready for dinner, under the stars we rendezvoused with the PCT hikers at a picnic table and talked about their experience on the PCT, as well as where we were all from and what plans we had for the future. They generously shared their secret backpacking drink - apple cider and fireball - as well as many laughs.
As Ingrid, Cate and I lay in the tent that night, we came up with our trail names. On our first trip together, we learned that Ingrid travels uphill somehow on her tip toes, so as it fit, she became Tippy Toes. Cate’s feet, specifically her arches, always fired up regardless of footwear or any other foot accessories she wore, so she became Archie. As for me, I laid there trying to get my sleeping pad comfy as the others were trying to sleep. I’d let some air out, then blow a little back in and thus Ingrid remarking on my blonde hair and having to have my sleep setup juuust right, I became Goldilocks.
That night, we all went to bed a little bittersweet. It was the ending of an incredible trip, but with the knowledge that we were all leaving the next day to return back to reality. The best part of our last day in Yosemite was definitely Cate and I’s shower in Curry village. Ingrid unfortunately had to head out early to go to Sacramento for work so she didn’t get to indulge in a long, hot shower like we did, but that was okay, because as Cate and I waited in the airport on our sleeping pads and in our bags awaiting TSA to open at 4 AM, we still got mistaken for a couple of homeless people.
Yosemite; what can I say about this place that hasn’t already been said? I don’t think my words will ever adequately describe it, but know that a piece of my heart will always remain in the park - in the valley, along the trail and on top of Clouds Rest.
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