Half Dome

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Southwest > California > Yosemite National Park > Yosemite Valley > Half Dome

Half Dome at sunset seen from Glacier Point

Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted

To hike Half Dome, you must have a permit. For day hikers, permits are available by lottery in March, with a limited number available two days in advance.

Well-known rock formation in the park, named for its distinct shape where one side is a sheer face while the other three sides are smooth and round, making it appear like a dome cut in half.

General Information
Length:
16.5 miles round-trip
Elevation Gain:
5,305 feet
Pet Policy:
Pets NOT allowed on trails
Seasons:
The Half Dome cables usually go back up the Friday before the last Monday in May (Memorial Day) and come down the day after the second Monday in October (Columbus Day)
Trailhead:
Mist Trail & John Muir Trail Trailhead

How to Get There

From Yosemite Valley El Portal Entrance (17 mi): Take CA-140 E, El Portal Rd and Southside Dr to Curry Village Dr in Yosemite Valley. Follow Curry Village Dr and Happy Isles Lp Rd to trailhead

Overview

Half Dome is Yosemite’s most famous granite monolith, rising more than 4,700 feet above the valley floor at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley, with a sheer northwest face and three rounded sides. Many hikers climb it via the 14- to 16-mile round-trip trail, finishing with cables on the final 400 feet; a permit lottery is required for the cables, and it takes 10 to 14 hours. Experienced climbers scale the face. Bring plenty of water and start before dawn, and avoid the cables in thunderstorms.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia articles "Half Dome", which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0

Hikers climbing the Half Dome cables
Spencer Joplin, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons ; Image Size Adjusted
Line of hikers on the Half Dome cable route
Unclekykyderivative work: User:Maps and stuff (cropped to 2:3 ratio, removing some of the excess sky and foreground, and increasing the relative size of hikers along cable in thumbnail versions; saved as a high quality JPG), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons ; Image Size Adjusted
Half Dome cable route up the granite dome
Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
360-degree panorama from the Half Dome summit
Japs 88, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
Half Dome in Yosemite National Park
Trail around the back side of Half Dome
Hikers on the climb up Half Dome
Alex Proimos, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted