Half Dome is a 17-mile round trip from the trailhead parking area. It is a 4,800’ climb from the valley floor (~4,000’) to the top (8,836’). There are restrooms at Happy Isles, Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls. The days are longest in June, and the falls are lowest in September, so the summer is the most popular time to go. Takes 10 to 12 hours. It’s a long day hike.
Light reading of hiking experience when you get a chance: https://www.quora.com/What-is-it-like-to-hike-Half-Dome-in-Yosemite
- Backpack - Light as possible since you'll need them for stuff below
- Water - Full 3L (100 oz) hydration packs that we will need to fill up throughout the hike
- Gloves - Rubber Gloves to use on cables wires
- WP Mid hiking shoeBoots or boot. Definitely not an old shoe
- Food - Beef Jerky, Sugary Food, more on this later
- Walking Stick - Some people recommend this but it's not necessary, i dont think ill take one since it might get in the way
Get your body in some shape, not only your lower body, but your upper body, too. Do some running and some pushups 3-4 a week and you should be fine. Or do regular walking (2-3 miles or so a day). Also we have to keep in mind that you are starting the hike at about 4,000 feet altitude but the top of the dome is almost 9,000 feet. You're essentially hiking straight up hill in thin air. Simply put, it is hard! Become best friends with a stair climber before you go and you'll make the hike much easier on yourself.
Due to avaiability it's probably best to go in September, since permits are based on a lottery our chances are higher when the peak tourist season is dying down. It's Ideal that we go during the week.
--more info about permits Approximately 50 permits will be available each day by lottery during the hiking season. These permits will be available based on the estimated rate of under-use and cancellation of permits (the exact number may change through the summer). The daily lotteries have an application period two days prior to the hiking date with a notification late that night.
If you have flexibility on which days to hike Half Dome, these graphs show how popular different days are. In general, your chances of success are higher on weekdays (especially beginning at the end of August). For the entire season (2013), average success rate on weekdays is 56%, but only 31% on weekends
https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/hdpermits.htm
Since we want to avoid altitude sickness it is recommended that once we get to Yosemite we dive into a 5mile hike the day before doing the actual Climb so that we can get acclimatized.
This will be our hiking route. https://www.lastmingear.com/protips/half_dome_guide
Based on how the permit lottery works and our chances of getting the days we want. I'm thinking that we go during off peak days, specifically looking at the dates of Sep. 14 - 18.
We have roughly two options on getting there, although there are other ways but because of it's proximity to the national park, they are the closest the most ideal in my opinion.
Take 6hr flight to Fresno, California, then Drive about 2.5 hrs to Yosemite Cost $286
6hr-7hr flight To reno, nevada, then drive about 2.5hrs to Yosemite. Cost $388
I checked with travelocity to see what the average car rental prices were for the two places and this is what i got
$295, average for the selected dates. I suppose this is higher since it's a popular transfer destination for Yosemite and these companies can dictate whatever price they want. bastards. Anyway, i might be able to lower the price with my credit card.
$160 average for the selected dates.
I didnt do too much research into this area since i wasn't sure who else wanted to go, but family cabins run around $250ish per night.Might be able to get something cheaper. Not sure.