That midnight hike sounds incredible for sure. I also hear the little yosemite valley overnight is a good way to go, as far as beating the crowds, but ive never done it. You will need a permit no matter which day you go this year though, they have changed the policy.

 

I like May Lake for a pretty short (though entirely uphill) hike, and you can continue up Mt. Hoffman if you want to beast it out. May Lake would be fun for the little one if you want to throw a line in or splash around a little. A little hiking/scrambling (like five minutes, if that) up the granite ridge along the back of the high camp will give you incredible valley views. Also its a really easy overnighter for inexperienced backpackers; a mile-mile and a half in, community fire rings, right next to a high sierra camp. At night just hike up that aforementioned ridge and the stars are just incredible.

 

Climbing up the cable will now require a permit for any day of the week.

Last year it was just weekends and holidays, but they realized (same as me) that crowds just climbed on non permit days making cable traffic even worse.

This year permits will be required for any day to climb the cables.

A pic from last July on a Monday @ noon-ish....





That was a lot of people. Took about 45 minutes to ascend the cables.

 

May and June are also the most crowded times of the year.

The last time I tried to visit the park in that time frame I got turned back at the gate.

 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...SP1E1I2T7A.DTL

"In the fastest five minutes of the year, Yosemite sold all the permits to climb Half Dome for weekends in May and June. For weekdays, the new required permits sold out in 23 minutes." Damn, didn't get one.

 

Did you take that? Awesome pic.

 

Thank you. I took that on my trip lat year.

I'm posted to remind anyone interest in climbing the cables that permits are required for any day of the year. July is most likely sold out since permits were made available 45 minutes ago. Permits for May and June were sold out in under 25 minutes last month when they went on sale.


Hike--------------Permit sale (7am)
May--------------March 1 (sold out)
June-------------March 1 (sold out)
July--------------April 1 (likely sold out)
August-----------May 1
September------June 1
October----------July 1

Set your alarms!

 

beautiful place ...wife and kid take me there for fathers day every year

 

****!!!! That's a lot of people.

 

That is an amazing picture. You can see exactly how it's eroding away... I think geologists describe it as onion-like layers peeling away. And the ant-like size of the people at the top give you perspective of how massive the rock slides are. The chunks that break off are house sized!!

 

That's not even a lot. I've seen pics of maybe 4x that many on there at the same time.

 

The hell with that, no only would you have the heights involved, but claustrophobia as well. That's nuts.

 

I think that's the main reason for the daily permits. Only 400 are available for any day of the year that the cables are up (100 for backpackers & 300 for day hikers).

It sucks that they sell out so fast, but I'm hoping it makes it more enjoyable by thinning out the cable traffic.

More pics to come after 7/11 this year

 

People are going to do it without permits anyway. Unless they are going to post someone there every day, it's going to happen.

 

I agree. I have no idea how they plan to enforce this permit thing.

Armed muskrats that live at the top of the dome?