Half Dome Permit Help

[yohab]

Hi. I had a question. If I obtain a wilderness permit from say Cathedral Lakes that includes a half dome permit, is the half dome permit any different than the day hike permit? For example, is there any reason i couldn't pay for the wilderness permit, pick it up, obtain the half dome permit, and then abandon the overnight trip and do a day hike from Happy Isles to half dome?

[AlmostThere]

The Half Dome permit is part of the wilderness permit - so no, you can't convert it to a dayhiking permit. I'm sure they saw that one coming.

Technically, you aren't paying for either permit. You pay to reserve a wilderness permit, doing it in advance, but if you walk in the office and they have a spot free, the wilderness permit is free. Likewise, the fee for the Half Dome dayhike permits is a service charge to recreation.gov - the actual permit is free.

[yohab]

Thanks for the info. So if i'm trying to put together a group of like 6-9 people to hike half dome is it virtually impossible to get day permits? Any suggestions?

[AlmostThere]

Get a couple of the people to get permits for 4 people (max limit on the dayhike permit).

Last year, there were people giving unused permits to the ranger at the cables, who then recycled them by giving them to folks who show up without... might be a question to ask a Yosemite ranger, what they think will happen this year. If that practice continues you might have a fair chance of having anyone who couldn't get a permit in advance up the cables.

[cjoz]

Hi. I had a question. If I obtain a wilderness permit from say Cathedral Lakes that includes a half dome permit, is the half dome permit any different than the day hike permit? For example, is there any reason i couldn't pay for the wilderness permit, pick it up, obtain the half dome permit, and then abandon the overnight trip and do a day hike from Happy Isles to half dome?

You could probably "get away" with it b/c I'm not sure how they would police it. That said, good luck getting a Cathedral Lakes wilderness permit and if you showed up at Half Dome on Day 1 of your wilderness permit for Cathedral, they'd probably call BS on you.