Hello to all. Hope all have had a great start to the new year. Still lovin all the topics and info you all put towards helping us with our questions.I have read somewhere that people have done moonlight hikes to the top of Half Dome. Maybe on full moon nights? My question is whether this is done with a permit . In 2011 I did a sunrise hike up to the top and no rangers were present till aprox. 8:00 am. I asked if they needed to see my permit and they said no, I had got there before they did. I have received my permit for the JMT (HI-WP) in July and didn't get a HD permit with it. Wanting to stay legal for sure! Maybe someone knows the new policy on the sunrise hike to the top. Thanks in advance for any help you might have.

Remember, the permit system is designed to limit overcrowding and increase safety. There's never a crowding issue on the dome at 6am. That's why the Rangers don't arrive at the subdome until well after sunup. We're not looking to avert policies or cause trouble for the much-appreciated Rangers, but they pass people going down as they go up in the morning and never make issue of permits. One word of advice, best to go earlier rather than later because if that Ranger does have an early start, you may be hiking a long way to turn around short of your goal.

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Troop
Remember, the permit system is designed to limit overcrowding and increase safety. There's never a crowding issue on the dome at 6am. That's why the Rangers don't arrive at the subdome until well after sunup. We're not looking to avert policies or cause trouble for the much-appreciated Rangers, but they pass people going down as they go up in the morning and never make issue of permits. One word of advice, best to go earlier rather than later because if that Ranger does have an early start, you may be hiking a long way to turn around short of your goal.

Don't believe him.

Rangers are randomly at the subdome on various shifts. And they catch people who go without permits.

Your Half Dome permit is valid for the full 24 hours of the day it is issued for.

So if you had a Half Dome permit for July 8th it would be valid for from 12:00 AM midnight to 11:59 PM on July 8th.

.

Pretty unlikely you'll need a permit.

You may have fun reading this thread:
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,51640,51640#msg-51640

Even if you do encounter a ranger at the subdome... I just wouldn't get too worked up about it.
There's a whole lotta other stuff to explore off trail in that area. It's not a waste regardless.

Have fun

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I did Half Dome with a buddy the last year that no permits were needed. Started at Glacier Point, just for something different, at dawn. It may have been the last weekend that the cables were up that year. Anyway, it was a mess on the cables, probably took 40 minutes or more to get up them. Heading back to the car, we left the JMT near the top of Nevada Falls to head on up over the Panarama Cliffs, and hear some folks coming down the trail...a Mom and her you daughter, followed shortly by Dad and a couple of teenage boys. It was probably close to 5PM by then (we ended up getting back to the car just at dusk).
"Where did you start?"
"Glacier Point", they say.
"Where you heading?" we ask.
"Top of Half Dome!" they say, and we look at our watches and tell them that it would be dark soon, that they were nuts to think about continuing and that they should turn around right then, and they (I kid you not) reply
"Oh don't worry, our friends did it a couple of weeks ago by the full moon and had no problem hiking at night"
And they were on their way, even after we pointed out to them that the moon might not still be full.
Full moon hiking is great up there. Just make sure you have a full moon. And a clear sky helps as well.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2013 05:34PM by Bearproof.

Ive done it twice and seen a ranger checking tickets once at about 3 am. Its a pretty popular thing for locals to do and the rangers know it