Hiking Half Dome, Yosemite.

Started for Yosemite National Park, Friday evening .. 4th of July (2005) long weekend.

Had a one point program.. To hike Half Dome !!
Sneha drove all the way .. and as I slept she drove us halfway into Sonora. Wrong place to be in !!
I had to get back into wakeup mode .. and get us back to 120East and Yosemite.
(It's about 187 miles straight in .. and should take between 3.5-4 hrs of relaxed driving from San Jose.)
We checked three campgrounds just outside Yosemite .. and they were all full. We reached the Yosemite West entrance, Big Oak Flat at 11:00 pm.
We had no hope of getting a campground inside ..since all of them get filled more than a few months in advance. We were all set to park in the Happy Isles Trailhead Parking, sleep in the car and hit the trail early morning.
Just for kicks, we decided to check whether there were any campgrounds that were slightly populated ..and we did find a couple of kind folks who were willing to accommodate us. We split the fees.. 10$ our share !!
The tent that we have is pretty nice. Gets up in less than 4 minutes. We woke up at 5:00 am .. Heated some pre-cooked food. Had a quick breakfast. De-tented and headed for the trailhead.

The parking lot at Happy Isles is where the action begins. It's a good half mile to the trailhead .. where directions, maps etc are displayed.
Half Dome is approximately a 17 mile round trip. Total elevation gained is 4800 feet.
Usually takes 10-12 hrs to cover.
Enroute is the Vernal falls.
The Mist Trail takes you to Vernal falls(317 ft high). It's about 3 miles away and the trail is well cut. There is some climbing involved since the increase in elevation is pretty steep. It takes a staircase of 600 granite steps to get to the top. Also we got soaked as we walked past along this trail. The mist from the falls really gets you for more than half a mile and you are seriously wet at the end of it. It's nice on a summer day and you don't really mind it.
At Vernal falls there is a railing that pretty much takes you to where the water starts falling. This rainy season, water levels in Yosemite were more than 175% above average. So the volume of water that was falling and the speed at which it travelled made it quite a sight.

Tips:
Don't apply any sunscreen till you cross the Mist trail .. it pretty much gets washed out !!
Can fill water at Vernal falls bridge drinking station, so you can replenish fluids.
Makes sense to remove your shirt during the mist portion of the trail, since you're anyway going to get wet.

beyond the Vernal falls..
The trail increases in elevation slowly. And you're walking mostly on mud and not stone (unlike the path till Vernal ) !!
As you reach the bottom of Half Dome (I guess they call it Quarter Dome), the climb is strictly over rock. The path is cut in at places and there are a lot for switchbacks that make getting to the top longer. We left our backpack at the bottom here. Just carried the wallets and car key. Very few people did this(maybe they were worried about the backpack getting stolen), but on retrospect this was a smart thing to do. It's tough carrying a heavy bag.

At the end of this stretch begins Half Dome's cable climb.
It takes about 45 mins to get from here to the steel cables at Half Dome.
The cables usually go up on the Memorial weekend (May end). But this year .. It pretty much got up there in the first two weeks of June.
The cables look really intimidating. The reason being that the face is sheer rock, at say a 60 degree angle. You're climbing that rock using the steel cables for support. The cable are supported by poles every 10 feet, and there is a wooden slat between the poles that support you from falling.
Since I'm not a great lover of heights it really did not look like fun. But since everyone seemed to be able to do it, it made the decision to climb easier.
(Think of the cables as a small ropeway bridge .. where you can hold onto both sides. The cables are about half an inch thick and look very sturdy.)
At the base, you find tonnes of gloves. You can easily find one your size. You need these for a grip on the cable. People also climbed without these .. so you should be okay.
(You can get gloves from Home Depot for 2-3$. Heavy duty worker leather gloves)
There was some traffic going up and down. So we took about 20 minutes to get to the top. It's a 900 foot climb. Coming down is easy since gravity helps you but if you're scared of heights and there's a traffic jam it's painful to be stuck up there and look down . It's like being stuck in a roller coaster. But unlike what people say, it's pretty easy to get up and down the cables.
We were on top of Half Dome at 12:45, so it took us appx 7 hours to get there. The trip back is about 5 hrs.
Since we started early we did not see too much sun on the way up. There is shade for most of the way . You are totally exposed once you reach the base of Half Dome(Quarter Dome).
On the way back, the sun really got us. I had a bad headache and was literally dragging myself down. 7 more miles did not sound fun when you're not 100% !!
A Tylenol and many stops along the way helped. Sneha did it without any issues. (had a major leg pain now that she's back home.)

The hike is strenous ... but very doable. I've seen a lot of blogs that make it sound very very tough. Just make sure you carry enough supplies to give you teh energy to stay in the game. We were hiking after a gap of 6 months, and did not really feel the strain. The trail gets crowded. So try and get in early. This also helps you avoid the sun. (half dome pic below)

Food and Water
Water consumed: Around 3 liters per head.
Food : Minimal. We took a lot of food and pretty much brought back everything.
I would recommend 4 litres water just to be safe and minimal food.(Energy Bars, nuts, some salted stuff (chips, snacks)are good enough)
A good site for pics of Half Dome, cables etc:
http://www.thecaliforniahikingpage.com/yosemite/halfdome/halfdome.html

Accomodation:
A. Best places to tent inside Yosemite are:
Upper Pines: Open all year.
Lower Pines: Open from March to October.
North Pines: Open from April to September.
All three sites are close to Happy Isles. Just a 5 minute drive away.
B. If you don't want to tent, options in the vicinity of Happy Isles:
Houskeeping Camp.
Very basic accommodation at Housekeeping Camp
Housekeeping Camp is about like 75$ for 4 people, and about 80 for 5 people (something close to that)
Also try Curry Village. Tents for 2 or more people.
http://www.yosemitepark.com/bookOnline.cfm?SectionID=27&PageID=60
C. Hostel:
http://www.yosemitebug.com/lodging.html
Very highly rated at: http://www.hostelz.com/display.php/2413+HI+-+Midpines,+The+Yosemite+Bug+Hostel
http://www.stayatyosemite.com/cabhos/lodging.htm#hostel
D. Camping inside Yosemite: http://www.yosemite.national-park.com/camping.htm
Camping outside Yosemite: The best websites for information: http://jrabold.net/yosemite/campn.shtml
http://www.yosemitepinesrv.com/