Half Dome Hike (Aug 2025)
There was a long snaking queue at the check in counter for Hertz in LAX, presumably because it was Friday evening. I quickly took out my Gold Club membership card and made enquiry. The lady told me I could go to another office dedicated to Gold Club members across the road. The queue there was manageable and I got my car within 10 minutes. The drive to hostel was smooth and i managed to buy some food before checking in. The room has no air conditioning but the rooms were clean and decent. I managed to find a car park at the road side.
Driving out in the morning on I-5 was ok, except that I used my map navigation too early, before 6am. The map still think that I-5 was closed for construction and directed me to drive out at Ventura and drove through national forests before heading back to I-5. I probably didnt need to do that as I-5 construction was only from 8pm to 6am. Nonetheless the drive was quite scenic, just that it was way longer than usual.
I reached Fresno to get food and a new jacket for Yosemite. The drive in the afternoon was really tough as the sun was glaring and I was driving uphill. I went in by Wawona.
Checking in at Curry Village was easy. Gabe at the reception was the most helpful. He even helped me to change my tent to another one when I told him the tent I was assigned was too noisy.
Woke up at 4am in the morning, and managed to start on the trail to Half Dome at 453am after taking some food. I was walking in the dark together with one group of French hiker, whom i presume are doing the same hike, which turned out to be true later.
I first passed the waterfalls and reached the toilet near the top of the fall. By this time, the sunlight has reached the top of the valley. I saw a big group of American young hikers, a couple from California (who drove from Mariposa at 230am for the hike), A Nepalese who was working in USA, a family of 4 who did Zion National Park, and some other groups that I will soon be seeing more often and even chatted with. I saw some shits on the trail path but according to the couple from California, those were from the horses that the rangers rode, not from the bears.
Before the switchbacks, we were reminded that that was the last water point. When i continue to trek up, I happened to hear Bahasa being conversed. Two Malaysian uni students were also doing the Half Dome Trek today. One was from Penang and one was from Selangor, both were studying in UPenn.
Once I reached the base of Sub Dome, I confessed to the ranger that I was doing permit tagging today. She asked me to went back by about 10-20 meters and approach the groups that were going up and see if they had empty spots in their group permit. Most of the groups said no. One hispanic guy that I approached was surprised to find out that there was a ranger checking, and apparently he also didn't have a permit it seemed. He went further up the trail and approached the groups first and undercut me. I was disgusted but I didn't went ahead of him, there was no point playing this game. After awhile, he walked past me with a group of hikers, and I thought he got himself a spot. Later I found out he actually sneaked in by blending in another group. The ranger didn't notice.
I continue to politely asking others until one gentleman came by and told me that he didn't have a spot on his group permit, but he managed to still do Angel's Landing in Zion National Park after the rangers left at 2pm, so he suggested I wait till the ranger left.
After awhile, a lady (Annie) came to my rescue. She asked if I am Lam, and I said I am. She told me that the ranger asked her to approach me, cos she has an extra spot on her permit. I was so incredibly indebted to her and the ranger. I quickly leaped to the ranger spot, listened to her briefing which could have been the nicest voice on Earth at that point and started the hike towards Sub Dome. I met the couple from SFO at the top of Sub Dome.
From the top of Sub Dome, we had to use the cable and the planks to do the Half Dome Hike. The hike got harder in the middle section, as the gradient was steep, and there were poles without planks on them in some section. Also we could not see the top from there, so one could easily gave up. My arm and thigh muscles were extremely sore at one point. Finally I summited.
At the top, I was panting heavily and said hi to the two Malaysian hikers. They offered me sandwiches but I lost all my appetite, my mind was fixed on water and water alone. Most of the hikers there had seen me before and asked me how did I get up, they thought I sneaked in too. I explained to them my incredible fortune today.
The view from the top was quite cool but the glaring sun made me very thirsty. I quickly took some pictures and headed down. I saw many hikers coming up, there was a jam at some point. A bottle tumbled down with liquid splashing all over from the top when I was descending, reminding me to be careful.
On the way down, a rattle snake crossed the path of the Nepalese and gave him a scare. Another group and I were 5-10m behind him and heard the commotion.
There were many bathers at the waterfalls. I accidentally took the John Muir Trail down instead of the route that I came up with and added some time to my descent, which was a mistake. When I finally reached the water filling station at the bottom of the waterfall, I quickly fill up my two empty bottles and drank like a camel. I took the shuttle bus out to Curry Village cos my legs were like jelly by then. I didn't have dinner and just drank sprite with ice to regain liquid and sugar. I slept like a log after shower.
I limped up the Purple route shuttle bus and took the 2-3 stops back to Curry Village. I could have easily walked the short distance instead of taking bus on a normal day, but today I really needed the ride. When I reach Curry Village, it was 530pm, so a total of 12 hours have past since I started. I went without dinner that evening, drinking only sprite and ice to recuperate. Slept through the night for 10 hours before checking out of Curry Village.
The next morning I woke up to check out and took some morning pictures of Yosemite Valley before driving back to LA. There was a wolf/fox/coyote that crossed the road near Wawona. The drive on I-5 was smooth until the 1-hour jam hit me just 52km outside LA suburb. A trailer crashed on the railing and caused a massive jam Southward. There were cars that ran out of gasoline, some had overheated radiator, some simply hit onto the car in front and created even more mini jams. After one hour of bumper-to-bumper traffic, I continued to speed through to LAX Hertz rental. United operated out of Terminal 7, so I dropped at Terminal 1 and walked across the car park. I didnt have problem with TSA this time as United check in screen had a page for travellers to confirm their personal details.
The flight from LAX to SFO arrived late as the tower deemed the separation between our plane and another plane did not meet the minimum separation required and hence another turnaround was required. I had some asian food in SFO F Gate before boarding at G gate. There was no need to clear TSA again in SFO which was a blessing. Flight out of SFO departed late but reached Singapore just a bit late thanks to the tailwind.
Notes:
1. The lottery system for half dome is probably the most complicated piece to comprehend. Long story short is - I only managed to get the lottery back in 2021 (during covid period) and hence was unable to go. It was a day lottery. I had no luck in securing a day lottery ever since. This time round I tried both day lottery as well as backpacking lottery (that also have half dome permit attached to it at a fee). Not all backpacking permits have half dome permit attached so one must be careful in selecting the available backpacking permit lotteries and apply for the right dates and the right routes. I started trying this lottery in 2024 and managed to get a very-hard-to-secure Yosemite Valley Happy Isle backpacking Permit for the date of 22 Aug 2025. That means I can choose to do Half Dome hike on either 22 or 23 Aug 2025, which offers slightly more flexibility compared to the Day Lottery Permit in terms of the day for doing the hike. My trip in Yellowstone ended on 15 Aug 2025, and I drove to Curry Village on 16 Aug 2026. Theoretically I had a few days to spend in Yosemite before the backpacking trip on 22 Aug. I decided to try my luck on 17 Aug 2025, by waking up early at 4am and hoping to tag along someone's else half dome permit with extra spot to do the hike earlier and return to Singapore earlier. I lucked out on that very day with the help of a kind ranger and a hiker who happened to have an extra permit.
2. I initially prepaid for my accommodation in Curry Village until 23 Aug 2025. Since my trip was shortened, I went to the office in the morning and requested refund for the days that I was not staying in Curry Village. Each staff could only carry max US$250 in cash, so the staff refunded me using credit card refund.
3. One way ticket from LA to Singapore via SF by United Airline turned out to be cheaper than the one way fare from Singapore to LA via SF.
4. The keys to the lodges in curry village might not work, so a bit of leg work is required if one of the keys didn't work.
5. If you happened to book the lodges near to the families, the kids might be making noises. I changed my lodge to stay away from the family lodges. The staff were incredibly understanding and patient when it came to lodge change requests.
6. The queue in the lodge office can be very long if you happened to check in at the wrong time when everyone also checking in at the same time. My advice is to check in at the earliest possible opportunity while the queue is manageable or do it after the long queue has shortened.
7. You can only park your car at the designated spots inside the national park. The rangers will issue warning/tickets if your car happened to be parked in the wrong place. 8. The free shuttle in Yosemite can be full at times. If you can wait awhile, the next empty bus will come not long after, there was no need to squeeze into a full bus.
9. I returned my rental car earlier to Hertz LAX and got minor discounts on the rental charge.
Driving out in the morning on I-5 was ok, except that I used my map navigation too early, before 6am. The map still think that I-5 was closed for construction and directed me to drive out at Ventura and drove through national forests before heading back to I-5. I probably didnt need to do that as I-5 construction was only from 8pm to 6am. Nonetheless the drive was quite scenic, just that it was way longer than usual.
I reached Fresno to get food and a new jacket for Yosemite. The drive in the afternoon was really tough as the sun was glaring and I was driving uphill. I went in by Wawona.
Checking in at Curry Village was easy. Gabe at the reception was the most helpful. He even helped me to change my tent to another one when I told him the tent I was assigned was too noisy.
Woke up at 4am in the morning, and managed to start on the trail to Half Dome at 453am after taking some food. I was walking in the dark together with one group of French hiker, whom i presume are doing the same hike, which turned out to be true later.
I first passed the waterfalls and reached the toilet near the top of the fall. By this time, the sunlight has reached the top of the valley. I saw a big group of American young hikers, a couple from California (who drove from Mariposa at 230am for the hike), A Nepalese who was working in USA, a family of 4 who did Zion National Park, and some other groups that I will soon be seeing more often and even chatted with. I saw some shits on the trail path but according to the couple from California, those were from the horses that the rangers rode, not from the bears.
Before the switchbacks, we were reminded that that was the last water point. When i continue to trek up, I happened to hear Bahasa being conversed. Two Malaysian uni students were also doing the Half Dome Trek today. One was from Penang and one was from Selangor, both were studying in UPenn.
Once I reached the base of Sub Dome, I confessed to the ranger that I was doing permit tagging today. She asked me to went back by about 10-20 meters and approach the groups that were going up and see if they had empty spots in their group permit. Most of the groups said no. One hispanic guy that I approached was surprised to find out that there was a ranger checking, and apparently he also didn't have a permit it seemed. He went further up the trail and approached the groups first and undercut me. I was disgusted but I didn't went ahead of him, there was no point playing this game. After awhile, he walked past me with a group of hikers, and I thought he got himself a spot. Later I found out he actually sneaked in by blending in another group. The ranger didn't notice.
I continue to politely asking others until one gentleman came by and told me that he didn't have a spot on his group permit, but he managed to still do Angel's Landing in Zion National Park after the rangers left at 2pm, so he suggested I wait till the ranger left.
After awhile, a lady (Annie) came to my rescue. She asked if I am Lam, and I said I am. She told me that the ranger asked her to approach me, cos she has an extra spot on her permit. I was so incredibly indebted to her and the ranger. I quickly leaped to the ranger spot, listened to her briefing which could have been the nicest voice on Earth at that point and started the hike towards Sub Dome. I met the couple from SFO at the top of Sub Dome.
From the top of Sub Dome, we had to use the cable and the planks to do the Half Dome Hike. The hike got harder in the middle section, as the gradient was steep, and there were poles without planks on them in some section. Also we could not see the top from there, so one could easily gave up. My arm and thigh muscles were extremely sore at one point. Finally I summited.
At the top, I was panting heavily and said hi to the two Malaysian hikers. They offered me sandwiches but I lost all my appetite, my mind was fixed on water and water alone. Most of the hikers there had seen me before and asked me how did I get up, they thought I sneaked in too. I explained to them my incredible fortune today.
The view from the top was quite cool but the glaring sun made me very thirsty. I quickly took some pictures and headed down. I saw many hikers coming up, there was a jam at some point. A bottle tumbled down with liquid splashing all over from the top when I was descending, reminding me to be careful.
On the way down, a rattle snake crossed the path of the Nepalese and gave him a scare. Another group and I were 5-10m behind him and heard the commotion.
There were many bathers at the waterfalls. I accidentally took the John Muir Trail down instead of the route that I came up with and added some time to my descent, which was a mistake. When I finally reached the water filling station at the bottom of the waterfall, I quickly fill up my two empty bottles and drank like a camel. I took the shuttle bus out to Curry Village cos my legs were like jelly by then. I didn't have dinner and just drank sprite with ice to regain liquid and sugar. I slept like a log after shower.
I limped up the Purple route shuttle bus and took the 2-3 stops back to Curry Village. I could have easily walked the short distance instead of taking bus on a normal day, but today I really needed the ride. When I reach Curry Village, it was 530pm, so a total of 12 hours have past since I started. I went without dinner that evening, drinking only sprite and ice to recuperate. Slept through the night for 10 hours before checking out of Curry Village.
The next morning I woke up to check out and took some morning pictures of Yosemite Valley before driving back to LA. There was a wolf/fox/coyote that crossed the road near Wawona. The drive on I-5 was smooth until the 1-hour jam hit me just 52km outside LA suburb. A trailer crashed on the railing and caused a massive jam Southward. There were cars that ran out of gasoline, some had overheated radiator, some simply hit onto the car in front and created even more mini jams. After one hour of bumper-to-bumper traffic, I continued to speed through to LAX Hertz rental. United operated out of Terminal 7, so I dropped at Terminal 1 and walked across the car park. I didnt have problem with TSA this time as United check in screen had a page for travellers to confirm their personal details.
The flight from LAX to SFO arrived late as the tower deemed the separation between our plane and another plane did not meet the minimum separation required and hence another turnaround was required. I had some asian food in SFO F Gate before boarding at G gate. There was no need to clear TSA again in SFO which was a blessing. Flight out of SFO departed late but reached Singapore just a bit late thanks to the tailwind.
Notes:
1. The lottery system for half dome is probably the most complicated piece to comprehend. Long story short is - I only managed to get the lottery back in 2021 (during covid period) and hence was unable to go. It was a day lottery. I had no luck in securing a day lottery ever since. This time round I tried both day lottery as well as backpacking lottery (that also have half dome permit attached to it at a fee). Not all backpacking permits have half dome permit attached so one must be careful in selecting the available backpacking permit lotteries and apply for the right dates and the right routes. I started trying this lottery in 2024 and managed to get a very-hard-to-secure Yosemite Valley Happy Isle backpacking Permit for the date of 22 Aug 2025. That means I can choose to do Half Dome hike on either 22 or 23 Aug 2025, which offers slightly more flexibility compared to the Day Lottery Permit in terms of the day for doing the hike. My trip in Yellowstone ended on 15 Aug 2025, and I drove to Curry Village on 16 Aug 2026. Theoretically I had a few days to spend in Yosemite before the backpacking trip on 22 Aug. I decided to try my luck on 17 Aug 2025, by waking up early at 4am and hoping to tag along someone's else half dome permit with extra spot to do the hike earlier and return to Singapore earlier. I lucked out on that very day with the help of a kind ranger and a hiker who happened to have an extra permit.
2. I initially prepaid for my accommodation in Curry Village until 23 Aug 2025. Since my trip was shortened, I went to the office in the morning and requested refund for the days that I was not staying in Curry Village. Each staff could only carry max US$250 in cash, so the staff refunded me using credit card refund.
3. One way ticket from LA to Singapore via SF by United Airline turned out to be cheaper than the one way fare from Singapore to LA via SF.
4. The keys to the lodges in curry village might not work, so a bit of leg work is required if one of the keys didn't work.
5. If you happened to book the lodges near to the families, the kids might be making noises. I changed my lodge to stay away from the family lodges. The staff were incredibly understanding and patient when it came to lodge change requests.
6. The queue in the lodge office can be very long if you happened to check in at the wrong time when everyone also checking in at the same time. My advice is to check in at the earliest possible opportunity while the queue is manageable or do it after the long queue has shortened.
7. You can only park your car at the designated spots inside the national park. The rangers will issue warning/tickets if your car happened to be parked in the wrong place. 8. The free shuttle in Yosemite can be full at times. If you can wait awhile, the next empty bus will come not long after, there was no need to squeeze into a full bus.
9. I returned my rental car earlier to Hertz LAX and got minor discounts on the rental charge.
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