General information on hikes and back country hikes?

[stripgaga]

Hey guys. I'm trying to plan my trip to Yosemite in late june/early july. I just called and was told you need permits to hike ANY of the backcountry hikes. My question is: Do you guys know how many and which hikes are considered backcountry? I've never been there and don't know what trails are backcountry or not. I was going to apply for the Half dome permit lottery in march so hopefully I can get the permit. But if not, my friends and I still wanted to hike the trail to half dome, but the lady I called told me that is considered backcountry.

Can anyone inform me on some good hikes, what is backcountry, and if the half dome hike is backcountry and if you need a permit for only the hike and not the actual ascent up half dome?

[dan]

You don't need a permit to hike during the day. You need a permit to backpack (camp) overnight in the Wilderness Area in Yosemite National Park. The NPS website says " permits are not needed for dayhikes" (except Half Dome). See the first sentence on this webpage:
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/wildpermits.htm

So you can hike to the base of the "subdome" north of Half Dome, but not any further. There will be a ranger checking somewhere.

[stripgaga]

yes.. I saw that, thank you. I was told by a lady on the phone that you needed permits on all backcountry hikes so I was confused by that. I'm assuming she meant all backcountry hikes than you plan on camping on then?

[dan]

yes.. I saw that, thank you. I was told by a lady on the phone that you needed permits on all backcountry hikes so I was confused by that. I'm assuming she meant all backcountry hikes than you plan on camping on then?

Yes. She's wrong.

- Dan

[balzaccom]

She may have understood that "backcountry" means somewhere you might sleep overnight.

The only day hike for which you need a permit is Half Dome.