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Question About Half Dome Permits for Backpackers

PostPosted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 10:22 am
by stanzi113
We are submitting our wilderness permit application this weekend (for a late season trip). On the application, you can ask for Half Dome permits as part of your Wilderness permit. However, there is nowhere on the application to specify which day you would like to climb Half Dome.

How do they determine what day we are climbing Half Dome? Will our Half Dome permit be valid for the duration of our Wilderness Permit? Or will we enter a lottery and win a random day during our hike?

It would be inconvenient to win a Half Dome permit on a day we were planning on being 15 miles away.

Edit: 2 more Questions to add:

Does Yarts run their fall (weekend only) schedule up until the Tioga Road starts to close?

Water is a big concern of ours. Does the Merced in Little Yosemite Valley dry up in drought years? We're planning on camping at lakes and at Little Yosemite Valley, I know most stream beds will be dry.

Re: Question About Half Dome Permits for Backpackers

PostPosted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 1:27 pm
by dan
You don't specify the date. Your Half Dome permit will be valid for all dates the wilderness permit is valid.

For more information, see:

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/hdwildpermits.htm

YARTS

PostPosted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 1:31 pm
by dan
No. Yarts runs in the summer all the way to Mammoth Lakes. You need to visit their website to see when this part closes.

http://www.yarts.com/

Besides Yarts, you can also access the Hiking Bus ran by the park concessionaire, YPC, which is summer only also:

http://www.yosemitepark.com/tuolumne-meadows-tour.aspx

Merced River in Yosemite

PostPosted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 1:33 pm
by dan
No the Merced River has never dried up. It has an ample watershed.

The Yosemite Creek on the North side of Yosemite Valley dries up, but that's because it has a small watershed baked by the sun.

Re: Question About Half Dome Permits for Backpackers

PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 11:44 am
by stanzi113
We are hiking Sept 15-19. We just got our permit application back. We got our first choice trailhead - Cathedral Lakes woo! - but no Half Dome. I put us in for the regular Half Dome lottery just to see if we could luck out. We also have a few days in the valley after our backpack trip, to try doing a dayhike.

At this point we are going to risk that YARTs is still running. Their site says through "late September" and we definitely are visiting in mid-September. I have looked on their website for more information, but all info I can find is still for 2013.

We plan to drop our car in the valley on the 14th, bus up to the lodge at the trailhead, then hike back to the valley, car, and hotel on the 19th.

Re: Question About Half Dome Permits for Backpackers

PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 1:39 pm
by AlmostThere
Clouds Rest is a better view anyway.