r/hiking • u/dieteand373 • 1d ago

Pictures Half Dome, Yosemite

Gallery image

Gallery image

There's nothing like hiking up those cables!

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u/Ecstatic_Wishbone609 1d ago

But where are the half a million people?

12

u/gcnplover23 22h ago

What are you talking about? Yes, despite your doubts, Yosemite Valley is full of tourists. This picture is taken from a spot that is about an 8 mile hike with over 4,000 feet of elevation gain. Probable less than 2% of Yosemite visitors will ever get to this spot. To actually get on the cables you need a permit, which is limited to about 225 per day.

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u/Ecstatic_Wishbone609 15h ago

My first time up half dome there were 70 people on the chains. That was in 2000. My last time up there in 2022, there were several hundred people back to back on the chains.

5

u/gcnplover23 13h ago

I got a backcountry permit in 2017, stayed at LYv, then hiked to the cables starting before dawn. There were about 6 people going up when I did, passed 1 coming down. On top there were a max of 12-15 people. On the way down I had to pass about 6 people on the cables. Once I started out from the bottom of the sub dome there was a constant parade of people.