Where to keep backpacking stuff when claiming Half Dome

If possibly spending the night around Half Dome before hiking it where would you keep all backpacks?

That would be a good question to ask the rangers when you get your wilderness/Half Dome permit. You will need that permit. If you "possibly" spend the night there without a permit you could get a fine or something and sent back down to the Valley. The rangers there do check for permits.

You can carry your packs up to the base of the sub-dome if you wish. This is where the rangers check for permits, and you can stash your extra stuff there behind a tree or a rock, HOWEVER, wherever you stash anything the rangers will warn you, and give citations if you fail to head their warnings, that you may not leave improperly stored food such that animals can get to it.

Lots of people still leave packs further up just before the cables, and the birds and marmots have a field day with them.

If you were coming down the Merced River trail from Merced Lake you might find some friendly backpackers in the backpacking camp in Little Yosemite Valley that would allow you to leave your stuff with them...at your risk, of course.

In June 2011, coming from Sunrise High Sierra camp, we stashed our backpacks at the last junction before climbing the subdome. Pulled the bear cannisters out of the packs, and left everything (14 packs!) behind a downed log. Climbed HD, came down, loaded up, and headed for LYV- no problems.

We camped before the subdome and left out packs in camp. No issues.

If doing HD as a day hike from a camp, just leave everything at the camp. I've done this from Little Yosemite Valley, the sub-shoulder of HD ( at the base of the stairs ), and from a camp just off trail 1/2 a mile towards Clouds Rest from the HD spur trail junction. Like others have said, you shouldn't have any problems as long as you're bear aware and bear proof the camp.

If doing a pass-thru, i.e. you're on trail coming down from / up to Clouds Rest, just leave the pack at the CR-HD trail junction. Hide it behind a nearby tree if you like. Again, be bear aware!

You have more to worry about from the 4 legged critters chewing up your pack than from 2 legged critters.

I wouldn't leave a pack anywhere unattended. In a bear box in LYV, perhaps. Bears take them even if there is nothing in them. Each year I hear a new story about a pack being stolen by a bear, sometimes when it's put down and the person steps off to take a leak. It might not happen - but it happens.

I also know someone who had their $500 tent stolen - they left it set up to go day hike, in LYV. Only place in the Sierra I have heard of theft on the trail.

The last time I was in LYV my wife and I came upon a trashed backpack that a HD hiker had left leaning against a tree. The bear had just finished tearing it to pieces and was ambling away from it. We assumed it belonged to a HD hiker because there was nobody anywhere near it. Given the prevalence of bears in the LYV area I would not dream of leaving a pack there unattended unless I could fit it inside a bear box, presuming there is ample room to do so without hogging storage space for other hiker's food.

I left my tent, packs and bear canister in LYV when we hiked to Half Dome (and back). There had been a bear in the CG the night before. No problems from either the 2 or 4 legged creatures. This was in 2010.

And lots of people do. People have also left smellies out in the open and not been hit, and left packs sitting on rocks, and all kinds of things.

And a growing number who do, are very unlucky. You are gambling - in Yosemite the risk is 150% higher than if you do such things elsewhere. LYV is a half day's hike from a parking lot and people who know what gear costs have easy access to a place they know people leave expensive gear. The bears are unafraid of people and know exactly what a pack is.

If you're going to take a risk you should know ahead of time you are taking it, IMO.

I would never - and never will - because Half Dome is not the wilderness experience I am seeking, nor is LYV, and there are more pleasant and easily reached campsites that I can use in the area.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/2012 07:15AM by AlmostThere.

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AlmostThere

And a growing number who do, are very unlucky. You are gambling - in Yosemite the risk is 150% higher than if you do such things elsewhere.

Where did you get this statistic? From the Park Service? A study by another group? And what exactly constitutes elsewhere?

Just curious...

.

I asked about leaving my equipment in LYV before making the trip (on another forum). Several people, and i think Bill-e-g was one of them, said it was okay to leave them there while hiking half dome. But then all my equipment is cheap.

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plawrence

Quote
AlmostThere

And a growing number who do, are very unlucky. You are gambling - in Yosemite the risk is 150% higher than if you do such things elsewhere.

Where did you get this statistic? From the Park Service? A study by another group? And what exactly constitutes elsewhere?

Just curious...

.

I hike there 10-12 times a year, and hike with a growing hiking group (2,000 or so these days) - direct interviewing and talking to the rangers in Yosemite. I have backpacked with folks who have lost things to bears. I've never lost anything myself. One poor guy had a bear at Hetch Hetchy destroy his pack and everything in it.

The bad part is - you *can* be fined for letting a bear get a food reward regardless of how it came about. And they expect you to pick up all the shreds of your gear, or the trash the bear leaves.

I'm also keeping a tally of verified giardia cases caused by drinking backcountry water untreated, in the Sierra Nevada, that I find out by direct contact with people. I'm up to 20.

Elsewhere means any wilderness area but Yosemite - tho there are a pretty good number of problem bears over in SEKI, including one that causes rangers to warn you to store your Bear Vault in bear lockers on the Rae Lakes loop. Seems he can pop the lid off.

CLAIMING Half Dome is probably a bad idea. Uncle Sam
might not issue permits for such things.