High Sierra Topix

My daughter and her boyfriend are going to Yosemite next week, are the Half Dome cables up yet?

Thanks,'

Richard

According to the NPS website they are up. They are also stressing the new Half Dome permit requirements so be sure to check the link.

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/hdpermits.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

thanks for that, more permits? Boy, do I love Nevada.

Richard

anyone who's stood in line when there are a thousand people trying to get up the cables will bless the permits.... It's about time they did something to choke back the traffic to something resembling safe numbers.

Half Dome is pretty much the most overrated hike in the park. Couple days ago we hiked from Happy Isles to Vernal to Nevada, up Panorama to the top of Ilillouette Falls, across the bridge, up to Glacier Point, down the four mile trail to the cars - absolutely gorgeous day, same mileage as half dome, just a little less elevation gain - only we didn't have the hundreds and hundreds of limping, gasping tourists you end up walking with on the way to Half Dome. Wonderful hike with ice cream bars at Glacier Point.

It would take a lot of persuasion and beer to get me to ever agree to do Half Dome again. I might go to the Diving Board - same views, few/no people.

Our Cross Country running team from our high school used to go to Yosemite every June, we used to run to Half Dome, climb it and run back. The trail was seldom crowded, times change.
One year we got to the base and the cable supports had not been put in for the season yet, so we climbed it using the cables laying on the granite.

Two hours to the base, and two hours back, we were young then.