OK, it's coming down to the gate now...

Well, it's getting there

I have to start figuring out for positive, just exactly what I'm going to do for my Yosemite vacation?
I've been waiting for this vacation since I started this job two years ago.
Which dates should I apply for for my (hopeful) Half Dome permit?
And what else should I plan, in case?

I was going to apply for Mondays, (mostly,) so we don't have to shut the shop too much, (since if I'm not there, it isn't open.)
That way with my Oct day off, plus my current month's day off, plus a Sunday, I would have three days off.
Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.
A day to get there and get set up.
A day for the hike, starting very early!
Plus a day to get home and rest up for work the next day.
And if I left direct from work Saturday, I'd already be there for Sunday morning, so I could spend the day doing other things!

I also figured that I'd apply for my birthday, which, (unfortunately,) is a Wednesday. That would mean I would need one additional day off. I could make two of those three days off with my Oct day, plus my current day off, but I'd still need one more. But, how could you resist the thought of celebrating your birthday on top of Half Dome? 
(Especially since it would also be exactly my 9th anniversary of getting out of prison and trying to build my new life!)

But, if I take the 3rd and the 5th of July off instead! Try to get a Half Dome permit for the 4th or the 5th, (Friday or Saturday.) I could use my 2 days off and get a 4-day trip! Then I could also do some other cool stuff.

I'm interested in at least once, doing the Tioga Pass road and seeing Half Dome from that side, among all the other unknown wonders that I've yet to discover! 
Or, the back-country... when will I ever get time for more of that? 

I've seen some in the Rockies, when I hiked above the tree line for a few days, (back in the '70's,) but mostly I've been in city streets. Well, there was  woods in Santa Cruz, (in the '80's,) but that was within walking distance of downtown, so that's not back-country. We did live in a cool hooch, and had indoor Bar-B-Que pits, with no smoke, but, that's because we only needed two walls and a roof. The climate here in California is so mild we could live year-round with no more than that.

The upwind walls and roof protected us from wind and rain, the Redwoods really protected us from wind and rain, and the two downwind walls were non-existent.  We had this beautiful view of the Redwood grove itself, we were breathing the open air, and had our open-air ashram in the next small grove below us. It was fantastic, but it wasn't back-country.

Anyway... if I get to do Half Dome, I'll do Half Dome.
That's all their is to it.
I'll do it, and I'll make it.
I've decided.
And, if I can't do Half Dome, what shall I do?
Forget Yosemite Falls! 
This has been too dry of a year. It will be dry. 
Save it for another year.
But what else?

The Mist Trail, maybe? 
It's actually the first part of the Half Dome trail, and it goes past Vernal Falls, the Emerald Pool, and Nevada Falls. 
You can actually go most of the way to Half Dome without a permit. 
You only need it for the last part.

But, there are also so many other ideas!
Share yours!
What should I do?

Thanks for your time and consideration,
Jou Baur

Happy Trails to you.

Half Dome from Glacier Point

Glacier Point
7-7-2012-243

Apparently, this is where you go up to get behind Half Dome.
The Mist Trail, and the John Muir Trail.
-289

Near as I can figure...

,,,I'm going to come up the Mist Trail next to the lower waterfall, (Vernal Falls,) and then somewhere along there cut left to go up behind Half Dome to the far end, and then finally come up from the opposite side from what you can see here.
15 miles round-trip and 4700 feet of elevation gain from down in the valley below.
-297

El Capitan

See the people?
Lower right side.
You see them better in the second pic.
2011-08-21-181 & 182