Whew, it’s a looooonnnngggg hike. It took my gf and I ~15 hrs. The gf had blisters on her feet/toes so it was hard for her to walk and really hard for her to walk down steps. That was the main reason it took us so long. Plus we took a wrong turn on one of the trails going up so that made us lag along with burning energy.
I felt OK with the hike. I was pretty pumped up going up so adrenaline carried me up. The view from the top of Half Dome is pretty amazing. Wish I could’ve hung out there longer. We started at 7am and didn’t get back until 10pm in the pitch black.
I didn’t think the climbing or coming down the cables was that hard but it was scary for the gf.
Tips for Half Dome:
Carry at least 3 L of water. gf ran out of water and I drank all of min.
Go the long route: take the John Muir Trail.
Don’t bring gloves for the cables, there is a stack of gloves there.
Bring a flashlight in case.