Permits required for Half Dome 2010

[jimqpublic]

The one additional thing I'd do is prohibit anyone starting up the cables after noon or maybe 1 pm.

[markskor]

JimQ,
"The one additional thing I'd do is prohibit anyone starting up the cables after noon or maybe 1 pm."

Why? Just wondering?
Mark

[JWreno]

The safest time is in the early evening. All the crowds are gone.
Thunderstorms can be a factor later in the day but you can
often have a great sunset up on Half Dome. If you are camping
within a few miles it can be a great way to spend a little time
after dinner.

[markskor]

Agreed!

Way back when, when it was legal to camp atop the dome -
Before there were white flowering turds under every possible rock,
and when there were still trees alive on the massive,
(small, twisted, belligerent pines)...
just a few, surviving somehow in the cracks.
The best time to scale the cables: late afternoon, beating the heat and the masses.

Even nowadays, you can still plan on starting the cables around 5, maybe even a late summer 6, and make it down to water by dark.

-

[JWreno]

When I went up Half Dome the first time about in June of 1993 at about 7PM I saw people
camping on top and making little fires out of whatever scrub vegetation they could find.
There was also a lot of stacked stones that people created to block the wind. I was happy
to see the no camping signs the next time I went up.

There is a little seasonal stream shown crossing the spur trail leading to Half Dome.
We followed that up for about 500 feet above the trail and had a nice little quite
camp with a small water source. It made for an easy evening walk to Half Dome to
watch the sunset. I am sure the stream dries out by mid summer so for most people
the nearest watered camp near Half Dome is back on Sunrise Creek.