Half Dome cable-route permits
- Page revised
- Facts checked against agency pages on
A permit is required to go beyond the base of the subdome on any day the cables are up. This page covers the day-hike permit and the backpacker add-on.
The schedule below is the park's standing pattern. The NPS day-hike page checked was last revised June 3, 2025 and names no season year. Confirm the 2027 season there before applying.
Preseason lottery
One application can request up to six permits and can list specific dates or a range. If more than one requested date has room, the park awards the highest-priority date on the application.
The alternate permit holder must be named during the application period. Names cannot be changed afterward, and permits are not transferable.
The park's own advice on odds: weekdays are generally better, especially from the end of August.
Daily lottery
Apply two days before the hike. For a Saturday hike, apply Thursday between midnight and 4 pm Pacific. Results are emailed late that night.
The daily application names a permit holder only. No alternate is allowed.
Where cancelled permits go
Into the daily lottery. This is the part that differs from every other permit on this site.
The park does not return a cancelled day-hike permit to a calendar. It estimates how many permits will be cancelled or go unused and releases daily-lottery permits on that basis. Returned space exists, but the only way to reach it is to enter the daily lottery for that date.
The per-person fee is refunded if the holder cancels by 11:59 pm Pacific the day before the hike, or if the cables are down that day. That refund gives holders a reason to cancel when plans fall through.
Why there is no alert here
An alert watches for space that anyone can reserve the moment it appears. Half Dome day-hike space never reaches that state. It moves from one lottery to another.
OpenCampsite does not watch for cancelled Half Dome day-hike permits and does not submit lottery applications. An alert is not a booking, and nothing here guarantees a permit. What works is applying: once in March, then two days ahead for each date you can hike.
The backpacker route
About 75 of the 300 daily places are for backpackers. They are not issued through either lottery.
A party holding a Yosemite wilderness permit that starts from an eligible trailhead can add Half Dome when it picks up that permit. The add-on covers every date the wilderness permit is valid. NPS lists these entry trailheads:
- Happy Isles to Little Yosemite Valley
- Happy Isles to past Little Yosemite Valley (Donohue Pass eligible)
- Glacier Point to Little Yosemite Valley
- Sunrise Lakes
- Cathedral Lakes
- Rafferty Creek to Vogelsang
- Mono Meadow
The backpacker page lists the add-on at $10 per person, paid at the wilderness center and not refundable.
Wilderness reservations for those trailheads do return to a bookable calendar when holders cancel, and that space can be watched. See Yosemite wilderness permits for the quota, the release times and the pickup rules.
Limits on this route:
- It is for overnight trips. The add-on is not valid for a day hike.
- A wilderness permit issued outside Yosemite does not qualify. Those hikers apply through the day-hike lotteries.
At the subdome
- Rangers check permits at the base of the subdome.
- The permit holder or alternate must be there with the whole group.
- Bring photo ID and the confirmation email showing the permit was paid.
- A day-hike permit is valid only on the date printed on it.
Asked at the desk
- Can I buy a cancelled Half Dome day-hike permit directly?
- No. The park does not list cancelled day-hike permits for sale. It estimates cancellations and under-use, then sets the number of permits in each daily lottery from that estimate.
- How many times can I apply to the preseason lottery?
- Once. NPS says a person may be the permit holder or alternate on only one preseason application, and that people who apply more than once have all their applications cancelled.
- Does a Half Dome day-hike permit include a place to camp?
- No. NPS says the permit does not include camping, lodging or any overnight stay. Camping in Little Yosemite Valley needs a wilderness permit.