Day 3 of 2025 Labor Day Trip to California, Half Dome

The third day of my 2025 Labor Day trip to California. I joined some friends to climb Half Dome, the coveted crown jewel of Yosemite.

All Things Happened the Previous Day

Two days earlier, on Sept 1st, I joined a friend to summit the imposing Sawtooth Peak in Sequoia National Park. Between its remote location and the rental car complications stemming from an overnight flight delay the previous weekend, it was past 1am by the time I finally got back to my Airbnb in Three Rivers. After a much-needed night's rest, I didn't check out until 11:40am on the morning of September 2nd. With Google Maps projecting over three hours for the drive from Three Rivers to Yosemite Valley, little daylight remained for me to do anything else.

Compounding matters, Garnet Fire was raging during this visit to Sierra Nevada. While southerly winds had spared our Sawtooth Peak ascent two days prior, they would also bring abysmal air quality to Yosemite National Park on Wednesday, Sept 3rd. Thus, whatever hours remained in the day had to include procuring N95 masks for our party.

After attending to these errands, I drove directly to Yosemite Valley. While the air was very hazy at Wawona, Yosemite Valley welcomed me with smells of fresh air after a recent downpour. For the next two nights, I would stay in a tent at Curry Village—an experience that proved somewhat underwhelming and, frankly, entirely consistent with the horror stories I'd heard about Aramark's mismanagement of Yosemite's concessions.
The troubles began at check-in. I joined the queue at 5:30pm, where only two front desk staff attended to guests. 40 minutes elapsed before I received my keys. I had no cellular coverage in Curry Village. Though I knew beforehand that WiFi was available to overnight guests in common areas, this wasn't mentioned during check-in, necessitating a second visit to discover that the authentication page required entering the room number as "Dr0XXX" rather than simply "0XXX."
I had booked a "heated tent," but I was fairly certain the heater in mine was non-functional. Given that heated tents cost only marginally more than nonheated ones and provided the crucial amenity of power outlets for charging our electronics, I resigned myself to enduring the cold through the night.
Curiously, hot water was available in the shower facilities closest to my tent only on the first of my two nights.

On the whole, I would have much preferred to see Curry Village's guest capacity housed in a hotel building with a considerably smaller footprint (assuming it's not managed by Aramark). While one might argue that Curry Village's tents preserve the surrounding trees admirably, I found myself longing for the convenience and efficiency of central heating and indoor plumbing.

Sept 3, Half Dome

My friends from the San Francisco Bay Area reached Curry Village a few hours after me(, which meant I successfully reunited with my camera and clothes in the checked bags). They were eager to get an early start, while I prioritized a good night's rest. Eventually, we settled on a 4:30am departure from the hiker's parking lot, though due to some miscommunication, we didn't actually set off until 4:45am.
Here's GPS tracking:

To reach Nevada Falls, we chose the John Muir Trail over the Mist Trail, hoping to avoid navigating the latter's wet sections while dark. We arrived at Clark Point at 6:07am, just as the day's first light revealed Nevada Falls and Half Dome.
(In hindsight, the other members of our party probably pushed too much during this initial stretch, a decision that would exact its toll later in the day.)

Before embarking on the day's hike, I drove to Curry Village's common area to check the air quality using their WiFi—the readings appeared reassuringly clear. What I failed to realize was that the information displayed was outdated. As a result, I started the hike without masks. It wasn't until we reached Clark Point, just as the sky began to brighten, that I noticed the pervasive haze hanging in the air. Fortunately, I had cellular coverage there, and after a quick web search, I was compelled by the readings to wear a mask for most of our remaining ascent to Half Dome.

As we passed Nevada Falls, our party decided to make a brief detour to a small nearby overlook, where we were rewarded with views of the waterfall's upper cascade and the imposing cliff face that plunged beneath it.

We left Nevada Falls at 7am, followed by a 40-minute stroll along Merced River to Little Yosemite Valley. This was the only stretch of level ground of the entire trail. Beyond that point, the path began a constant ascent through the woods till the base of Subdome.

We reached the base of Subdome at 9:20am, beyond which the trail rose entirely above the tree line. The climb onto Subdome was intense but short, along steep switchbacks.

Based on my observation, somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of climbers used harnesses along the cables. I went without one and I quite enjoyed doing so. (Anyways, a good pair of gloves proved essential.) Along the climb, I even found myself wishing the path was just slightly steeper and longer—it would have made for a more fulfilling challenge—only to wake the next morning with minor arm and chest soreness, a sign that I had overexerted myself during the climb. Okay, I liked Half Dome perfectly as it was. Despite the 300-person daily quota, I encountered minor traffic jams both ascending and descending, which somewhat diminished the experience. (On the other hand, another member of our party probably created the day's worst bottleneck along Half Dome's cables.)

 

I finished Half Dome's cable section at 10:23am. Despite the air pollution (which was gradually lifting throughout the day), the views were stellar. In particular, I soon discovered a small rocky outcrop (p4 below) where we, along some of the more daring visitors, took turns for photos.

Compared to granite walls to the west, down Yosemite Valley, the eastern horizon deep in Sierra Nevada was lined with various pointy peaks.

Here's a video I took on Half Dome:

13 seconds, 2160p60fps, H265 only, 20Mbps/35MB file size.

With plenty of daylight left, we lingered atop Half Dome, savoring the summit. I didn't begin my descent down the cables until 11:50am. While it's commonly advised to walk down the cables backwards (facing up), I found the rocks and cables sufficiently grippy to descend forward, facing the exhilarating views below.
Meanwhile, my friends, properly equipped and proceeding with measured caution down the cables, meant we didn't start heading down Subdome until 12:45pm.

Initially, I had hoped that we could descend via the Mist Trail, catching an up-close look of Vernal Falls. Unfortunately, the strenuous journey had taken a heavy toll on one member of our party (probably as a result of us pushing too hard during ascent), who now needed to walk slowly and rest frequently. As it fell to me to look after him, we were obliged to take the more gradual John Muir Trail back, forgoing the steeper descent of the Mist Trail.

As a sidenote about water, we started this hike with about 4L of water per person. We drank less than expected during our ascent, so we stashed some bottles along the trail (at my insistence, as other members had suggested simply dumping them). However, the warmer afternoon weather and the longer-than-expected descent meant I went through all the water I was carrying and had to replenish at the footbridge across the Merced River, about 2.2km (1.4mi) from the trailhead.

And a note of John Muir Trail, it's overall in very good condition, sections of it felt paved.

While during our ascent we could only hear the roar of Merced River in pitch darkness, now its cascades were on full display as we wound up our day.

 

In the end, to accommodate my struggling friend, we got back to the parking lot at 7:20pm, finishing up a very long but exciting day.
END