I did try to search before posting my question, but didn't find this helpful post until after ... sorry! So it looks like we could get there Thursday afternoon and camp at Illilouette, then head out from there the next day. Cool!
Dave Miller wrote:As said before, there are no dumb questions. I learned as you are learning, by asking questions and doing research. I commend you on that. I have seen too many people headed to Half Dome who were in no way prepared for the hike.
The way the Yosemite permit system works is that the permit indicates your first night's stay in the park. Once you have done your first night, then the park's open to you. If HalfDome is your goal, then Glacier Point to Illiouette , IMHO, is your best bet. Day 2 would go from Illilouette to Little Yosemite or the vacinity. That trek is about 8 miles. Once you are at LYV, you can hit half dome the next day. Start early, at least by 6:00am to beat the crowds.
Here are links for a 5 day trip I did last year:
Day 1 - Glacier to Illilouette: easy first day, not too long, just to get in the park.
[I'm not allowed to post the urls yet, so you'll have to search for the original post to see them]
Day 2 - Illilouette to LYV
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Day 3 LYV to Half Dome: this route also shows a side trek up the JMT. I wanted to check out possible campsites for later expeditions. You could also plan to head to JMT depending on what you want to do.
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Day 4 - LYV to Echo Valley. Great Day hike, but a long one
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Day 5 - LYV to Happy Isles
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As I mentioned before, the key is what type of hike you want to do and miles per day. I'm not into death marches, some people are and that's okay, but I like to keep my days between 6-8 miles. We base camped at LYV, but had considered going to Merced Lake and then back around to JTM and down, but we ran out of days.
The Trailheads, Yosemite Falls & Snow Creek center around the North Rim area. Definitely a place to go and explore. My original plan for this weekend was to hit that area from Porcupine Creek, but we changed plans a couple of weeks ago because we were not sure that the road to the trailhead would be open there is still a lot of snow in the area. Merced Lake is on the South Rim side of the valley and the trailheads for Merced Lake are Happy Isles, Sunrise, Glacier Pt. It is a long trek to Merced Lake if you want to do it in a day. Too long for my tastes.
I hope this helps.