Porcupine Creek to North Dome to Half Dome?

[swilliams23]

I'm wondering if anyone can tell me if my plan is legitimate. We have a group of 5 starting at the Porcupine Creek trailhead next Friday around 11am. The first day we plan to take it easy and hike down to North Dome and camp nearby.

The second day I plan to hike back past the Indian Rock/Bridge and down past Mirror Lake and far enough along the John Muir trail where we can camp for the night (about 15 miles total). If we start at 5am and keep at a good pace, is this legitimate or too much?

So the third and final day we could get an early start and hike a few miles to Half Dome (minus backpacks). Is 15 miles in one day over kill? None of us are athletes but all are young and in fairly good shape.

[ryanmj]

its about 8 miles from north dome to mirror lake , the 1st mile will be slightly up hill but not to bad, than its all down hill to mirror lake and from their its about 1.5 to happy isles and than about 4 miles to little yosemite valley. Its deffinetly doable, I would consider stopping at the arches on your 1st day since its only going to be about a 4 mile hike that day. The most strenuous part will be vernal/nevada falls.

[Wickett]

I see you are going to North dome and backtracking. Is this for the view? There are some nice spots at the top of the snow creek falls trail that have excellent views of half dome and the valley that do not require backtracking. This would cut off some of your mileage.

It is a steep descent from the top of snow creek to the mirror lake loop, if someone has bad knees I would take that into account, it takes about an hour to an hour and a half to go down. After the descent it is pretty flat until you pass Happy Isles. Then you start going up. The trial to little Yosemite Valley is hard to miss so even if you push on into darkness so you shouldn't get lost and if you start early you shouldn't have a problem. Be advised there is a wide area where you can only camp in LYV without being in violation of the rules.

I just did 38 miles in 3 days and it was more than I wanted to do but it was doable, the fire made me do a long loop to my destination but it was not as enjoyable as 5 to 7 miles a day.

Also take the altitude into account. If you are coming from sea level and will be starting right away you will not have the same endurance you normally would, a lot of people forget that.

Hope this helps...

[bill-e-g]

I'm guessing you are doing this cause you wanna go up HD.
I'm also guessing that with 5 people you'll
a) have trouble getting everyone going early
b) have someone who this is just too much for

Unless you have "experience" and have done 10+ miles with a
pack I never recommend over 10 miles in day.
(do what I say.. not what I do sorta thingy)

Anyway, if it were me planning it I would nix HD, park the
vehicles all at Porc TH... and just explore the North Rim.
There is ALOT of things to explore up there worth the time.
Indian Rock, North Dome, Top o Falls, Eagle View, El Cap,
Snow Creek ...

I'd recommend something like:
1) North Dome
2) dayhike Eagle / El Cap
3) home

One other thing... when I go past LYV I ALWAYS go up the Mist since
it's so much shorter than the JMT.
but always also get a early start... it MAY be really slow up it
if there are alot of people ...

Anyway, me 2 cents... take it as you wish.
Have fun

[AlmostThere]

I concur with bill, the Mist Trail is brutal especially for anyone who has not been backpacking - dayhikers with tiny camelbaks collapse routinely, backpackers hammer their knees especially if you are not paying attention to packing light. You are saying you are all in good shape but not athletic - sounds like you haven't done this before. I'd keep it simple, enjoy yourselves, and save Half Dome for some other trip. It's a big rock - it'll be there.

I think backpackers forget how challenging it was at the very beginning. I restarted my wilderness adventuring a couple years ago after many years of not hiking, and each year I do the Mist Trail - each time it becomes easier. But I go out nearly every weekend and hike at elevation, and not everyone is able to do this. Elevation kicks your behind and makes you think all those hours at the gym were worthless. On a night hike to Half Dome last month, I had a bunch of folks who don't routinely hike - my hip gave out 2/3 of the way in, due to some other issues, and I ended up following some of these people and watching them hobble, limp and wobble up the trail, determined to get there.... Too much suffering. Not worth it. I made coffee while they took two hours inching up the switchbacks and the cables. They took nine hours to hike back down to the cars in Curry. I took six hours with my gimpy hip. These were youngsters who lived at the gym, with nothing wrong whatsoever.

Your mileage may vary, of course. But if you are wanting to do Half Dome, do that - go camp at Little Yosemite Valley and do it from there the next day, come back, recuperate, hike out the next day. If you want to do the North Rim, do that. Don't kill yourselves, the park will be there next year.

[Dave Miller]

If your goal is Half Dome, this is a pretty tough way to do it, especially if you haven't done a lot of trail miles in the past.

I think bill's advice to stay around North Dome is a good one. I did a trip there last month and had a great time. You can check it out here: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip ... pId=495746

Keep in mind that there is no water at North Dome. We packed in the water for the first night and then watered up the next day at Lehamite Creek. Ours was a one night adventure, but if you are planning on staying longer, then I'd do one night at North Dome and the next at Lehemite Creek. We found a great trail camp on the ridge above North Dome (waypoint NDL012 on my trip report) plus there are some nice sites in the trees at the base of North Dome. As Bill said, there are plenty to explore in that area.