What are the iconic Yosemite formations? I think for anyone familiar with the park, the images that first come to mind are El Capitan and Half Dome.

For me, Half Dome has always been IT. Sure, I’d LOVE to spend a couple of days climbing up El Cap (calling all volunteers who want to lead most of it for me ☺), but the goal to hike Half Dome seemed far more attainable.

I moved to California thinking I could just drive to the park and boogie on up the 16-18 miles. Not so. Permits are required, and I’d already missed the lottery by several months. Dang it.

The following season, a friend of mine applied for the lottery. We didn’t get selected. Dang it.

But, wait! There’s a loophole, although I would not recommend this for most people.

In the off-season, the plank steps and poles holding the cables up as handrails are removed. The cables are still there, but they’re laying flat on the granite.

It’s not illegal to climb the dome in the off-season, but I think the park service advises against it. It’s definitely at your own risk.

The cables are up typically from around Memorial Day through Columbus Day. This leaves little time for a snow-free hike without a permit.

The past two years, Mark and I have dragged our feet along the mostly uphill hike the weekend before the cables go up.

Although I’ve never hiked it with the cables up, I can’t imagine that I would feel safer. When the cables are down, there is virtually zero crowd and I’m harnessed in. It just sounds so much better than being stuck in a bottleneck of possibly terrified hikers without having a harness. I have a vision of 1 person slipping and creating a domino effect. Then again, maybe that’s my irrational imagination.

I got up before 3 AM and we were out the door by 4. After a few quick photos at Tunnel View, we were soon on the Valley Floor pulling into the lot near Happy Isles.

That lot is about a half of a mile away, but it’s paved and flat. What’s another mile when you’re already doing more than 15 that day?

There were only a few people at the start of the Mist Trail, but it’s usually fairly quiet before 7 AM.

We felt great at first and had possibly a little too much pep in our step, speed walking up that first mile of hills.

We decided to take the John Muir Trail instead of the stair-master past Vernal Fall. It adds distance, but it’s a more gradual increase in elevation. I like to save my legs. It was also still cool out, and with the waterfalls raging, we were in no mood to get rained on during the steep climb.

We made it to Clark Point where there is a beautiful look-out above Vernal Fall. The sun was shining into the mist, and we had a wonderful view of a rainbow.

We decided to head down to the top of Vernal Fall, then take the Mist Trail past Nevada. We would lose quite a bit of elevation that we worked very hard to gain, but we thought it would be the drier option, now that we were above the first waterfall.

Not long after crossing the Merced River, we started to feel the mist from Nevada Fall. That thing was ROARING.

I was looking forward to Little Yosemite Valley at that point. It’s a flat section that’s unfortunately really short. So sad. I like more rest than that.

The rest is all uphill, then rock steps get you up Sub Dome. There was about a 20 foot long area of snow to walk through on Sub Dome. It was a little iffy, but we made it.

Seeing Half Dome up close was an intimidating sight last year. It sort of was this year, too.

We harnessed up. I found last year that certain friction hitches work surprisingly well on the cable. My hitch of choice was the klemheist, and nylon webbing or slings work better than dyneema. A prusik with cord seems to work, too.

One friction hitch works really well, but we like redundancy in climbing. My backup sling was either another klemheist or just a carabiner on the shorter stretches of cable. If I slipped, I wasn’t going anywhere.

I’ve seen people use 1 or 2 carabiners with their harness. I definitely recommend 2, I definitely recommend locking carabiners, and I definitely recommend the friction hitch as opposed to just sliding the carabiners along the cable.

It’s a long and steep 400 feet up the cables, especially at the beginning. But man, is it worth it!

I should note that gloves are recommended. They annoyed me last year when I was fixing my friction knots, so I didn’t even bring any this year. It’s a risk since the cable has pokey spots. I got poked. I bled. I went to Rite Aid for a tetanus shot the morning after. Worth it.

360° views at the top. Countless waterfalls are visible. Snow-capped jagged peaks. Speechless.

We spent a couple of hours up there. I can’t tell you how incredible it is to be in a jam-packed park on a holiday weekend, but to not be around a single soul in “your” spot in the park. No one came up for about 15 minutes while we quietly laid on the granite, listening to the distant thundering of waterfalls.

We put in the hard work to get there, and we took full advantage of the reward.

Hiking back sometimes is the toughest part, especially on long hikes. There are times when you just want to be at the car already. The soles of your feet hurt. Your back aches from your pack. You’re tired of eating packaged carbs. I haven’t had that feeling on this hike, it’s just THAT fantastic to me.

We kept looking at the backside of the dome on the way back to the trailhead. Dude, we were up there!

I have to say, this is still my favorite hike.