Yosemite National Park
Half Dome permit lottery
When to apply for your hike date, what it costs, and what to do without a permit.
When do I apply for my date?
Pick the date you want, and see the day and time it becomes bookable.
Rule from NPS Yosemite: Half Dome Permits for Day Hikers, checked November 2, 2026. Confirm on the official site before you rely on it.
Day hikers need a permit to climb the Half Dome cables, required seven days a week while the cables are up. NPS gives out about 225 day-hiker permits a day: most in one preseason lottery that takes applications all of March, the rest in a daily lottery two days ahead. Each application costs $10, plus $10 a person if you win, for up to six people.
The preseason lottery (March)
- Applications open March 1 and close March 31. NPS runs this window on Eastern time.
- 225 permits a day are in it. Ask for specific dates or a range; you win your highest-priority date that still has room.
- Results come by email in mid-April. NPS gives no exact day.
- Each person can be on only one application, as permit holder or alternate. Duplicates get every application canceled.
The daily lottery (all cables season)
Apply two days before your hike, between midnight and 4 p.m. Pacific; you hear back late that night. NPS's example: to hike Saturday, apply Thursday. Daily applications have no alternate, and NPS says weekday odds are better, especially from late August.
When permits are needed
Seven days a week while the cables are up: normally the Friday before Memorial Day through the day after the second Monday in October, moved with conditions. A maximum of 300 hikers a day go past the base of the subdome, about 225 of them day hikers.
Cost
$10 per application, not refundable, plus $10 a person once you're awarded permits. The $10 per person comes back if you cancel by 11:59 p.m. Pacific the day before, or if the cables aren't up.
No permit? What to do next
Book through Recreation.gov first. It's the only place to reserve. If your date is gone:
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No permit? Other ways to do it
- Enter the daily lottery: apply two days before your hike, midnight to 4 p.m. Pacific, and hear back late that night. NPS says weekday odds are better, especially from late August.
- Backpacking? Half Dome comes with a Yosemite wilderness permit that includes it, not through this lottery.
- Without any permit you can still hike the trail up to the base of the subdome, where rangers check permits.
Book a Yosemite tour
Guided Yosemite day trips and hikes, bookable now. A tour doesn't include a Half Dome permit unless it says so.
Stay near Yosemite
Permit day starts early. Compare places to sleep near the park.
Get the reminder by email
One email the week before the big California dates (the Mount Whitney lottery in February, the Half Dome lottery in March, and North Pines' early-access lottery once NPS announces it). Nothing else.
Before any reminder, you'll get one email asking you to confirm. It comes from New England Reservations (hello@newenglandreservations.com), our sister site. Unsubscribe anytime. See the privacy policy.
When is the Half Dome lottery for 2027?
NPS's standing schedule is a preseason lottery from March 1 through March 31 (Eastern time), with results in mid-April, plus a daily lottery two days before each hike during cables season. NPS doesn't post year-specific dates, so check its Half Dome page before you apply.
How many Half Dome permits are there?
About 225 for day hikers each day in the preseason lottery, within a cap of 300 hikers a day past the base of the subdome (the rest are backpackers). Extra daily-lottery permits depend on expected cancellations and no-shows.
Do backpackers need the Half Dome lottery?
No. Backpackers, including anyone staying in Little Yosemite Valley, get Half Dome on their wilderness permit instead.
Sources
- NPS Yosemite: Half Dome Permits for Day Hikers, checked November 2, 2026.
Rules change. Always confirm on the official site before you rely on a date.