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In plain English
Think of Yosemite lodging as three different trips wearing the same name. In the first, you sleep in the Valley, in a lodge, a cabin or a campground you can drive to. You wake up close to the trailhead, walk the long day with a small pack, and come back to a bed or a tent that is already set up. Nothing heavy has to ride on your back.
In the second trip, you sleep in the wilderness partway up. That needs its own permit, which is a permission slip from the park that limits how many people can camp out at once. It also means carrying everything you need for the night: tent, sleeping bag, pad, stove and food. Because bears live here, your food has to go in a hard plastic tube called a bear canister, and you cannot simply hang it from a tree.3
The Half Dome cables add a second gate on top of all this. The park requires a permit to climb them whenever they are up, and gives those permits out by lottery, a bit like a raffle.1 So the real planning question is not just where to sleep. It is which permit each choice of bed requires, and how heavy a pack you want on that steep trail.
Half Dome is Yosemite Valley's signature summit: a strenuous round-trip of roughly 14 to 16 miles that climbs from the valley floor to the base of the dome's granite shoulder, then up a steel cable route to the top. Because the trailhead sits right in Yosemite Valley, most hikers base themselves there rather than at the summit — sleeping among the Valley's lodges, cabins, and campgrounds, or splitting the effort with a night at a backcountry wilderness camp along the way.
Why hike here
What makes Half Dome worth the effort is the up-close relationship with granite: the trail climbs out of forest and past the valley's characteristic waterfalls before the trees fall away and the route turns to bare rock. The final push is the part people talk about — hauling yourself up the smooth granite face on a pair of steel cables, with the valley floor falling away far below. Do it as a long day and the whole arc happens in a single push; split it with a night at a backcountry camp and you get a slower, quieter version, with time to watch the light change on the valley's granite walls in the evening and again at dawn before you finish the climb.
Getting there
Yosemite Valley is the hub for the hike: most people fly into a regional California airport, then drive or take a shuttle service into the park, since there's no direct rail or air link to the Valley itself. Once you're in, a free shuttle handles getting around the Valley floor, including reaching the Happy Isles trailhead where the Half Dome route begins. If you're driving in for the day, plan on an early start — Valley parking areas fill up fast on summer mornings, well before most day hikers are back off the trail.
Where to stay
The realistic options, closest-to-the-trail first. Book through the official links — we don't list prices or availability because they change all the time.
For example: The Ahwahnee, Yosemite Valley Lodge, Curry Village tent cabins, Housekeeping Camp
Hikers who want a bed, a hot shower and a short drive to the Happy Isles trailhead.
Summer dates open on a rolling window and book out months ahead.
Yosemite Hospitality (Aramark)For example: Upper Pines, Lower Pines, North Pines (reservable); Camp 4 (walk-in / seasonal lottery)
Car campers and hikers who want to be steps from the trail network.
Among the hardest campgrounds in the park system to book.
Recreation.govFor example: Wilderness camp about 4-5 miles up, splitting the climb over two days
Backpackers doing Half Dome as an overnight, or starting the John Muir Trail.
An overnight permit that includes Half Dome skips the separate day-use cables lottery.
Yosemite Wilderness permit (Recreation.gov)
Permits & rules
The Half Dome cables require a permit whenever they are up: permits to hike to the top are distributed by lottery, and wilderness permits are required for all overnight hikes, so check the park for the current process and dates.
Gear you'll want for this trip
Matched to the terrain and conditions here. Real products — check current price on Amazon.
Three kinds of bed, three sets of rules
Yosemite's own front page treats the beds as separate planning topics. It lists Camping and Lodging as their own pages, then gives Wilderness Permits and Half Dome Permits their own entries, with the note that wilderness permits are required for all overnight hikes and Half Dome permits for the cables whenever they are up.1 That structure mirrors the trip: lodges and Valley campgrounds are frontcountry, meaning you arrive by road and the park manages demand through reservations, while anything overnight on the trail is backcountry and is managed through the wilderness permit system.
Overnight permits follow a published calendar. Yosemite opens its wilderness lottery 24 weeks ahead on Recreation.gov, with 60% of reservations released at that point and 40% one week ahead.2 That split matters if you miss the first round, because a smaller second chance exists, but it is a smaller pool, so it should not be your plan A. A reservation fee applies to these permits, so check the official page for the current figure instead of trusting an old number. Note too that the park's front page also mentions the High Sierra Camps, a separate network in the high country, and names Glen Aulin as one of five.1 They are not on the Half Dome route, so they are a different kind of trip.
What a backcountry night does to your pack
The pack question comes down to one rule. Yosemite requires that all food and drinks, trash, toiletries and other scented items be stored, and hanging food is illegal everywhere in the park.3 In practice that means a canister on every overnight. The park's allowed list includes the Garcia Backpackers' Cache and a range of BearVault models, and the park's only rental canister is the Garcia.4 The National Park Service adds that canisters only work when closed and locked, and should sit on level ground at least 100 feet from camp, because bears treat toiletries, sunscreen and trash as food too.5
A canister is a rigid tube that does not squash into corners, so it takes a real share of the pack. One state agency describes typical canisters as about 8 by 12 inches, holding up to five days of food for one person.6 Add a shelter and sleep system and you have moved from a daypack into the range Washington Trails Association gives for a one- or two-night trip, roughly 45 to 50 liters.7 Sleeping in the Valley skips all of that, which is why the same 14- to 16-mile hike can feel like two very different days depending on where you spent the night.
What the page states that the park's front page does not spell out
Guides commonly describe a preseason lottery, a daily lottery, a cables season from late May to mid-October, and a wilderness camp partway up. The park's front page confirms the core idea, a permit lottery whenever the cables are up, but it does not give those dates.1 Treat them as details to confirm on Yosemite's own Half Dome and wilderness permit pages before you build a trip around them, and check the park's current-conditions page for closures and alerts.
One safety point applies to anyone who sleeps high to get an early start. The National Weather Service notes that mountain thunderstorms often build in the early afternoon and advises being off the mountain by noon, and that a tent offers no protection from lightning.8 A backcountry night can shorten the approach, but it does not make the exposed granite any safer if a storm builds.
Common questions
Do I need a permit to hike Half Dome?
Yes. Because the final cable section is so exposed and popular, the National Park Service requires a separate permit just for the cables, issued by lottery, with a preseason round and a daily round during the season. Overnight backpackers also need a wilderness permit for the night itself, so check the park's Half Dome and wilderness permit pages for how the two fit together before you plan.
Where should I stay the night before hiking Half Dome?
Most hikers base themselves in Yosemite Valley, either in one of the in-park lodges and cabins or at one of the Valley campgrounds, so they can start on the trail from Happy Isles at first light. If you'd rather break the hike into two days, an overnight at a backcountry wilderness camp along the route lets you split the mileage and reach the cables the next morning.
When's the best time of year to attempt Half Dome?
The cables are typically up from late May to mid-October, and that window is the realistic season for most hikers since the route isn't set up for a safe ascent outside it. Within that stretch, book your permit as early as the lottery allows, check the weather forecast closely, and start early enough to be off the exposed sections well before any afternoon storms build.
Complete gearsets for this trip
Full curated kits built for exactly this kind of hike — what to bring, why, and links to similar gear.
Lodging details are compiled from official parks, refuge associations and reservation systems and can change without notice. We publish no prices, availability or ratings — always confirm current information on the official site before booking or setting out. Product links and the accommodation map are affiliate links: we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you; product prices and availability are shown on Amazon, and accommodation prices on the booking site. See our affiliate disclosure.