Half Dome as the cables go up: late May permits, peak waterfalls, spring snow

The Half Dome cables typically go up in late May, and the opening days of the cable season are a distinct experience worth planning for on purpose. The waterfalls that define the route are at full spring volume, the summer crowds have not arrived, and the daily lottery for these early dates behaves differently than it will in July. The permit math first. The preseason lottery runs the month of March with results in mid-April, awarding about 22 percent of applications in recent years; 2024 drew 35,289 preseason applications for 225 day-hike permits per day. Missed that, and the daily lottery two days before each hike date runs about 19 percent overall, but weekdays succeed at roughly 22 to 23 percent versus 12 to 14 percent for weekends. Late-May weekdays are quietly one of the better asks of the season, since plenty of March applicants aimed at midsummer. Cancelled preseason permits are also re-released, so watching a specific date range catches those drops. The permit costs $10, and groups cap at 6. The route is the same 14.2 miles and 4,800 feet it always is, but spring changes its personality. The Mist Trail's 600 granite stairs earn their name emphatically in late May; Vernal Fall's spray soaks everything within range, which is glorious on the way up at noon and slick and cold at 6 a.m. Many spring hikers ascend the Mist Trail for the show and descend the John Muir Trail for their knees. Above Nevada Fall, patches of snow can linger in the shaded forest around Little Yosemite Valley in bigger snow years, though the final granite of Sub Dome and the cables themselves usually melt out before the cables are installed. Opening-week specifics: - Rangers check permits at the base of Sub Dome; hiking past it without one is a federal violation with fines up to $5,000 - The cables run 400 feet up 45-degree granite; gloves are essential, and early season means the wooden planks may still be settling into position - Water is refillable at the Merced River in Little Yosemite Valley with a filter; the last tap water is at the Vernal Fall footbridge at mile 1 - A 5 a.m. start remains the move, both for parking and for beating afternoon build-ups Weather discipline matters more in spring than any other month. The rule is absolute regardless of season: do not be on the cables when a storm is anywhere in the forecast, because wet granite at 45 degrees with steel in your hands is the mountain's most dangerous combination. Late May adds fast-changing spring systems to that calculus. Checking the forecast the morning of, not the night before, is the standard. The common early-season mistakes: treating a late-May permit like a July one and packing no insulation for a summit that sits at 8,846 feet; skipping gloves and discovering the cables' toll on bare hands; and underestimating the day, which runs 10 to 14 hours for most parties. The most avoidable one is strategic, not physical: hikers who lost the March lottery give up entirely, when the two-days-ahead daily lottery and re-released cancellations put hundreds of people on the summit every week. What the opening window gives back is the valley at its absolute peak. Nevada Fall thundering under the summit view, Liberty Cap wet with spray, and a cable queue measured in minutes instead of hours. For a permit this contested, late May is the closest thing to a quiet door in. — Compiled by the PermitSnag team from agency info, ranger updates, and public trip logs.