20 year old falls off half dome and dies while father watches her slip

[Dr. Detroit]

Off season they take down the posts and steps so you'd have to just climb it holding onto the cables. There are so many better hikes in and around Yosemite anyways. Clouds Rest, Mount Hoffmann, Mt Dana are all walkups that are more impressive IMO. They'll have people on them but aren't the circuses Half Dome is. The the Mist Trail, which is the first 2000 feet of elevation gain of the Half Dome trail, is still a must do if you do it late spring when the falls are roaring (or early summer in particularly high snow years). Just don't get in the Emerald Pool above Vernal Fall like so many tourons do and then get swept over the fall to their deaths (happens every few years). Also don't be a woman wearing a white t-shirt since on the steps up Vernal Fall you'll get soaked as bad as if you showered in your clothes (makes for nice eye candy on the return trip tbh). I haven't done North Dome but just from its location I bet it's second only to the Diving Board for views of Half Dome.

I've never been to Yosemite, live 3hrs away but have avoided that place due to the tourist buses.

Lassen, SEKI, SNF are all spots I've hiked and enjoyed that are similar. The meadows are epic, the granite topped mountains, the alpine lakes, the geothermal activity...why would I go to Yosemite again?

 

[SteveGrabowski]

I've never been to Yosemite, live 3hrs away but have avoided that place due to the tourist buses.

Lassen, SEKI, SNF are all spots I've hiked and enjoyed that are similar. The meadows are epic, the granite topped mountains, the alpine lakes, the geothermal activity...why would I go to Yosemite again?

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Yosemite Valley is nightmarish when it comes to tourists (last time I was there was bumper to bumper traffic like I was in LA) but Tioga Pass Road, where all the best dayhikes are anyways, is good. And the backpacking is unreal either starting from Lyell Canyon or Mono Pass and working down to Ritter and Banner in the Ansel Adams National Forest for example.

 

[BoomerD]

Yosemite Valley is nightmarish when it comes to tourists (last time I was there was bumper to bumper traffic like I was in LA) but Tioga Pass Road, where all the best dayhikes are anyways, is good. And the backpacking is unreal either starting from Lyell Canyon or Mono Pass and working down to Ritter and Banner in the Ansel Adams National Forest for example.

We usually timed our visits to avoid the worst of the tourist traffic. We lived ~2 hours away and tried to go every year or two.

One year, I caught some climbers on El Capitan…

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Yosemite Valley is nightmarish when it comes to tourists (last time I was there was bumper to bumper traffic like I was in LA) but Tioga Pass Road, where all the best dayhikes are anyways, is good. And the backpacking is unreal either starting from Lyell Canyon or Mono Pass and working down to Ritter and Banner in the Ansel Adams National Forest for example.

Thanks! I've always assumed parking at the trailheads, permits for hikes, traffic, is nightmarish anywhere around that place. I'll do some research and get some camp reservations in for next year at Crane Flat.

Places like Dinkey Creek, Lake Edison, Mono Hot Springs, Cliff Lakes in the SNF have given us solitude, of course one year we damn near got helo'd out as we missed the evacuation orders during the Creek fire in '20. Thats a helluva story!

 

[jpiniero]

No helmet?

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Thanks! I've always assumed parking at the trailheads, permits for hikes, traffic, is nightmarish anywhere around that place. I'll do some research and get some camp reservations in for next year at Crane Flat.

Places like Dinkey Creek, Lake Edison, Mono Hot Springs, Cliff Lakes in the SNF have given us solitude, of course one year we damn near got helo'd out as we missed the evacuation orders during the Creek fire in '20. Thats a helluva story!

Half Dome is the only dayhike you need permits for. It has been a few years since I have done Yosemite but the only backpacks that were tough to get permits for were ones that can go towards the Little Yosemite Valley campground, since that gets you a guaranteed Half Dome permit. Which sucks because Lyell Canyon is one of those people sign up for just to climb Half Dome even though going all the way up through Lyell Canyon and over Donahue Pass past Mt Lyell and Mt Maclure and over to Thousand Island Lakes, Banner Peak, and Mt Ritter is a way better trip than turning towards Little Yosemite Valley. That was my first choice a few years ago but couldn't snag the permit so got the much easier to get Mono Pass at the cost of having to take Parker Pass to get to Thousand Island Lakes being longer than going through Donahue. But can't complain because it made a super easy first day to setup camp at Mono Pass, then day 2 dayhike up Mt Gibbs and then Mt Dana and back before a long Day 3 through Parker Pass. If you want to summit Ritter and/or Banner though gotta be good with crampons since they require glacier traversal. Ritter supposedly has a non-technical route along the west side requiring no ice traversal but I didn't even bother since everything I have read said it's hard to follow.