Well, i didn't win the half dome hike lottery and my wife was not likely to hike it anyway, but i got close and was able to see some great views of Half Dome from a variety of perspectives across Yosemite Valley. Loved the sunset views!

I did a 3 day back packing trip into Yosemite with the highlight a trip up the cables to the top of Half Dome! It was a bucket list trip!!

We hiked up half dome last weekend. We were a group of 6 (3 adults-2M/1F in their late forties, two 17 yrs old boys and one 13 yr old girl). The adults had been practicing hiking every Sunday for last 2+ months. Kids only went hiking couple of times. On the hike day we woke up by 4:30 and got ready to leave House Keeping camp by 5:15. We parked at the trail head parking and at 5:40 am we were at the Happy Isles to start our hike.
We reached Vernal falls by 6:40 am, and took 45 mins break there for breakfast and restroom.
We reached Nevada Falls by 8:15 am, took another break for snacks and restroom.
We walked the Little Yosemite valley, it felt long and never ending. We reached bottom of base dome by 11:30am.
We reached base of half dome by 12:15 pm. Climbing base dome was very tiring.
We started the cables section around 12:30 and reached the top by 12:50. I felt the cables was the most challenging and dangerous part of the hike.
We ate some snacks on top, posed for pics at the iconic lip/wedge and then started descending the cables around 1:30 since rain was in the forecast.
Reached the bottom of the cables around 1:50, wind had picked up speed by then, it was blowing at 25m/h and it rained for couple mins which scared everyone.
We kept walking till we reached bottom of base dome where there was less wind. We ate our sandwiches for lunch and then started the long walk to Nevada Falls. It again seemed never ending. We soaked our tired feet in the river near Nevada falls and rested for some time and then took the John Muir trail to reach the foot bridge of Vernal falls. The 2 teenage boys were ahead of us and reached the parking 2 hrs before us. By the team we reached parking lot it was around 7pm. Overall it was a beautiful hike but everyone was exhausted by the end of it.