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Choose the Half Dome permit for your trip
Half Dome planning can produce a surprisingly elaborate group chat before anyone has put on a boot. One friend is entering a lottery, another is looking at camping, and someone has volunteered to organise everything despite having no intention of going up.
Before applying, agree which trip everyone intends to make. A day-hike permit does not include camping, while the Half Dome addition available with certain wilderness permits is only for actual overnight backpackers. The person holding the permit matters too: forwarding a confirmation email does not transfer the right to use it.
These are the National Park Service rules checked on 21 October 2026. They explain the permission choices, not a confirmed opening date for a future hiking season. NPS day-hiker permits
Decide where you are sleeping
If you will hike up and return without an overnight wilderness stay, use the day-hiker lottery. Sleeping in a hotel or a Valley campground before the hike does not make the hike an overnight wilderness trip.
If the plan includes backpacking overnight, identify the permitted entry trailhead before deciding how to obtain Half Dome permission. Only specified Yosemite entry trailheads qualify for the backpacking addition. A wilderness permit alone does not include Half Dome.
| Your actual plan | The Half Dome process | The important limit |
|---|---|---|
| A day hike planned ahead | Preseason day-hiker lottery | No camping included; named holder or valid alternate must attend |
| A day hike sought close to the date | Daily lottery, two days before the hike | No alternate holder in this lottery |
| An overnight Yosemite trip entering at an eligible trailhead | Add Half Dome when collecting the wilderness permit | Only for backpackers, including all or some of the group |
| Another Yosemite entry, or a backpacking trip starting outside Yosemite | Obtain a separate day-hiker permit for the intended Half Dome date | The overnight permit does not itself supply this permission |
The backpacker rules also allow someone who already holds a day-hike Half Dome permit to use it during a properly permitted overnight trip. The day permit remains tied to its stated date; you can’t use it on whichever day of the trip you choose.
The seven trailheads that qualify for the backpacking addition
NPS lists these entries:
- Happy Isles to Little Yosemite Valley
- Glacier Point to Little Yosemite Valley
- Happy Isles past LYV, marked Donohue pass eligible
- Sunrise Lakes
- Cathedral Lakes
- Rafferty Creek to Vogelsang
- Mono Meadow
With an eligible wilderness permit, request the Half Dome addition when collecting it. NPS says no separate advance reservation for that addition is needed, and it is valid during the wilderness permit’s dates. The underlying wilderness reservation still has to be obtained. Eligible entries and collection rules
Suppose six people have a genuine overnight trip starting at Sunrise Lakes, but only two intend to hike Half Dome. Add those two, rather than paying for all six. At the published US$10 per person, that is US$20 for the Half Dome addition, separate from wilderness-permit and other trip costs. The fee is paid at collection and is non-refundable.
This list is permission eligibility, not a suggested walking route. Do not select a trailhead solely because it unlocks the addition and then substitute the route you originally wanted. Nor can you obtain the overnight addition and use it for a day hike instead.
Name a permit holder who will actually be there
Apply through Recreation.gov’s Half Dome page. The NPS published preseason application period is 1–31 March, using Eastern time; it is separate from the Pacific-time daily process below.
For the preseason day-hiker lottery, an application can cover up to six people. It names a permit holder and can include an alternate. The Recreation.gov permit page specifies a 72-hour acceptance window for the alternate. They need to accept the role through their account; merely typing a friend’s name does not finish the job.
One of those named people must be with the entire group at the base of the subdome when permits are inspected. Bring government-issued identification matching the named holder or alternate and the paid permit confirmation. The permit is non-transferable. NPS holder and alternate requirements
For four friends whose organiser later stays in the Valley, the original names determine what happens. If the originally accepted alternate joins the hike, the group can use the permit under that person. If neither named person attends, the other friends cannot simply carry the organiser’s email.
There is also no useful workaround in having one person appear as holder on one preseason application and alternate on another. NPS cancels that person’s multiple applications. Agree on the real group and its named people before submitting, rather than trying to multiply entries through overlapping combinations.
The daily lottery is a separate last-minute chance
The daily application window is midnight to 4 pm Pacific time, two days before the hike, with results notified late that night. For a Saturday hike, apply on Thursday. Use the destination’s Pacific clock, not the Australian date on your laptop. NPS daily lottery
A successful daily application automatically charges the per-person fee to the application card. If that charge is declined, the reservation is forfeited. Recreation.gov’s fee policy
This lottery permits a holder only, with no alternate. If the successful holder cannot go, a friend cannot take over the booking. It is a chance to obtain permission close to the date, not a reliable basis for promising everyone that Saturday will be the summit day.
Keep other Yosemite plans worthwhile in their own right, so an unsuccessful result does not decide the value of the whole holiday. A lottery application is not a reservation, however many spreadsheets the group has produced.
Separate the application fee from the permit fee
For day hikers, the published charge is US$10 per application, plus US$10 per person if a permit is awarded. A successful application for four people therefore costs US$50: US$10 plus four lots of US$10. An unsuccessful application still incurs the non-refundable application charge.
The per-person day-hiker fee is refundable if cancellation occurs by 11:59 pm Pacific time on the day before the hike, or if the cables are not up on the permitted date. That differs from the backpacking addition paid at collection. None of these amounts includes accommodation. NPS fees and cancellation
Permission is one part of the trip
NPS describes the usual Half Dome day hike as a 14–16-mile round trip with about 4,800 feet of elevation gain. This is a substantial hike, not an attraction slot that becomes suitable simply because you win it. Read the park’s full Half Dome preparation guidance alongside your route planning. The park says not to attempt the cable ascent when the cables are down, the rock is wet or storm clouds are nearby.
Keep permit documents available offline and take the required identification. Our USA connectivity guide can help with ordinary travel data for arrival, accommodation messages and booking changes. Keep those online jobs separate from the walk: a travel eSIM does not establish trail reception and is not a wilderness emergency system.
Get the overnight plan and the attending permit holder right first. They are much easier to sort out around the kitchen table than at the subdome checkpoint.
