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As far as practicing for it, just go hiking somewhere local as much as possible.

As far as what to bring on the actual half dome hike, there are definitely some mandatory things:

1. Water- bring more than you think you will need. I also HIGHLY reccomend picking up a sawyer squeeze. That way you don't have to carry as much water at any given time, and its not the end of the world if you drink all your water as you can refill. Just be strategic and make sure you have plenty of water at any given time.
   
   
2. Food- bring lots of high calorie snacks. Bring more than you think you need. Things like energy bars and trail mix have lots of calories and don't take up too much space.
   
   
3. Sun Protection- Definitely a hat and sunscreen. Lots of people, myself included like the hiking specific sun protective clothing, and its worth checking out if you think you'll be getting into hiking.
   
   
4. Layers- its an all day hike in the sierra, the weather can change, you can be out while it starts to get cool. Bring at least a fleece layer and a waterproof/ windproof layer. You don't have to spend a lot of money on either of these items.
   
   
5. Headlamp or flashlight. You probably will be getting back before dark, but just in case you get held up, its good to carry some sort of light source.
   
   
6. appropriate footwear- people like different things so I won't recommend trail runners over hiking boots or vice versa, but I will say that whatever you pick should be comfortable to YOU. Try on different things and make sure you like them. Also, make sure you pick a shoe that is meant for the trail, not the sidewalk, trail shoes or boots will have noticeably better grip walking up and down half dome. Also make sure that you have enough room for your toes. Your toes should not be running into the front of your shoes when walking downhill. Also, get a nice pair of hiking socks. Your feet will thank you.
   
   
7. Basic first aid kit- definitely have a way to deal with blisters and small cuts as those are the most common injuries. You can carry more stuff if that is something that you want to do and if you are interested, I can tell you what is in my kit.
   
   
8. Just note that there are more things that can be considered "essential", and depending on where you are hiking they may be super important to bring. The above list is just top of my head what I would say someone should definitely have on the half dome hike.
   
   Some optional things are:
   
   
9. An extra pair of socks. It can feel soooo nice to let your feet air out mid hike and then put on a fresh, dry pair.
   
   
10. Trekking poles. They really save your joints going downhill!
    
    
11. A more exhaustive emergency kit. The half dome hike is really well travelled, so if you have an issue, there will be people around that can help, but if you are going to get more into hiking after this, it can't hurt to start learning about how to handle wilderness emergencies.
    
    Things to keep in mind regarding hiking anywhere:
    An experienced hiker can look at the distance and elevation change, as well as the starting elevation of a hike, and immediately have a rough idea of how hard the hike will be for THEM. To build this skill, pay attention to the stats on the hikes you are doing. Also pay attention to how the weather affects your ability to hike. Extreme heat and cold both present challenges and require proper preparations.
    
    Whenever traveling to a new place, take the time to read up on the regulations for that place, specifically regarding best Leave No Trace (LNT) practices for the area and about staying safe around the wildlife for that area- in general, never approach wildlife, but there are also things you can do to minimize having a negative encounter with an animal that you should be aware of- these best practices will often be different depending on where you are and what wildlife lives in that area.

As everyone else has said, Tuolumne is going to be under a ton of snow, you're not going to be able to pull off your itinerary, but you have a couple of options.

For an easy trip, you might try hiking from Cherry Lake to Lake Eleanor. It's about 3 miles, if I remember correctly. There are semi-developed campgrounds with bear boxes. The hiking around Eleanor is pretty good. At ~4500 feet, I think it's low enough to be clear of snow. At least, it was around this time last year.

The only thing is that it's a pretty remote part of the park. While it's technically in Yosemite and lovely, there's nothing distinctly Yosemite about it.

For cooking supplies, you can buy a canister stove, although a canister is about $5.

I'm partial to alcohol stoves but they're a little more finicky and require a little bit of practice.

Sleeping bags and tents are expensive, there's no way around it unless you can sew (in which case you can have an ultralight backpack, shelter and sleeping bag for about $150). Otherwise, expect to drop $150 alone on a sleeping bag. Really, there's too much info for this, but start here and troll around /r/ultralight and /r/wildernessbackpacking to figure out what your options are. Outdoor Gear Lab has some pretty good recommendations too. You should consider renting equipment. REI has... okay stuff. It won't be light, but it'll keep you alive.

If you're not an experienced camper, I wouldn't suggest a solo trip. There's a lot to get wrong and having a partner helps prevent death. If you must go alone, I would suggest skipping Yosemite and heading west this early in the year. Henry Coe state park should be nice and the terrain is less likely to kill you. Ventana wilderness is also good, I hear. Sykes hot springs is basically like a hobo camp so if you find you're missing something essential you can probably borrow what you need. Another option is the Ohlone Trail to Murietta Falls, it's reasonably remote but you're almost never out of cell phone range. For a really comical experience, you might try a thru hike of the east bay skyline trail. It's 30 miles with only one plausible camping stop. If you get decide it's not for you, you're at most 2 miles from civilization.

If you want more and the /r/yosemite locals don't mind terribly, I'm happy to give more advice.

I completely understand where you're coming from (and I think what you're after).

I picked up this book right in the Yosemite Village Store (as I was leaving Yosemite for what I feared might be a long time). The Yosemite Grant

It's a very detailed history of the early years of the park (1864-1906) in a nice larger format book.

For other ideas, I'd browse around here are well.
Yosemite Conservancy In fact, pulling up that link just inspired me to order a copy of "They Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove", which I hadn't seen before.

If you haven't already, definitely get a copy of "The Yosemite" by John Muir. He's an incredible writer and a crazy man at times - very adventurous. There are endless variety of publications to choose from, and it's a free eBook too. All of Muir's writings are worth your time.

From another angle, I actually also found this book to be really enjoyable: Geology Underfoot in Yosemite National Park. Not for everyone, but it's a very accessible geological history, shedding light into how the landscape formed. As I hiked around the valley loop last fall it was very cool to note, as we crossed a high sort of berm that stuck out like a sore thumb, that it was in fact the terminal moraine of the glacier that carved the valley, and later acted as a damn to fill the valley, giving it its flat floor. The book gave me a better appreciation of what I was seeing within the park. (high nerd factor there though, not for everyone)

And finally, if you want to go waaaay back to some great source material, everything that is in the public domain seems to be cataloged and digitized here Yosemite Online

Enjoy!

By no means am I an expert on the hike, but I can help for sure.

The gloves I was recommended were these and they worked great. They have similar brands/types at Home Depot.

As others have said, especially on a day hike, it'd be best to only fill up a little water at a time. The Vernal Falls footbridge station was closed and has been for a month or more.. so check the status or ask around before you go. Bring a filter so you don't have to rely on it and fill up at Little Yosemite Valley. There is water access above each waterfall, but use caution on where you decide to pull water. Basically, in this photo, fill up on or near the sand beach where the background people are.. avoid rocks and fast-moving water.

Start early, like 5-6AM early.. pack the 10 essentials (or most of them at least) and just be sure to check the weather before you go.

i) They are large, but they aren't endless. You would only want to put one cooler in there, and something small enough where you can put your other things in as well. When I go car camping, I typically bring something like this with me to keep items that must be kept cold.

If you can fit everything in your bear box, along with two coolers, then yes, you can bring two, but I would recommend only bringing one. They appear to be a lot bigger than they are once you start putting things in.

ii) The lockers themselves will "lock" so a bear can't get into them, but as far as to prevent another human, no. You cannot put locks on them either. If a Ranger sees this they will cut the lock off immediately.

I've camped a ton of times in Yosemite and have never had anyone bother my stuff. That goes for camping items and camping food. By no means should you be worried about food going missing, unless of course you fail to leave the bear locker unlatched to wear a bear or another animal could get it open.

If for some crazy odd reason this does occur, there are markets located in the valley and one in Wawona near the Big Trees Lodge where you can buy items.

iii) No, those are too big, they won't fit. You need small ones like the one I linked above.

Again as mentioned, only put items that must be kept cold. I don't know what you plan on cooking while you are there, but the weather will be cold. Things like water, soda, beer, vegetables, fruit, etc should be left out (inside the bear locker of course) as temps will keep them cool enough.

Only things that can easily spoil like eggs, meat, milk, etc should be kept in the freezer.

Also try to keep things compact as Rob said. It will make your life easier. For instance if I make scrambled eggs. I scramble the eggs up at home and put them in an empty gatorade bottle. Easy to store and don't have to worry about the eggs breaking.

Just remember larger things like boxes take up a ton of space. It's better to use smaller flatter compact things. Of course things like chips and what not are hard to do, but if you can cut up peppers, onions, etc before leaving, they'll lay flat in a bag.

Get a Supertopo climbing guidebook and look up the climber trails. These trails are unofficial climber maintained trails and are generally safe but more difficult hiking with frequent route finding by following rock stacks. The approaches to El Capitan, Washington Column, Glacier Point Apron, and Middle Cathedral offer some really great views most tourists don’t get to see. The hike to the base of Washington Column (look up the climb “Astroman”) puts you directly across from Half Dome. The hike up to El Cap (look up the climb “Pine Line”) is an easy 15 min walk. Once you get to the base of El Cap, go left and follow the base for 5 min. There is a gigantic ledge that looks strait up the Nose of El Cap. The Glacier Point Apron trail (look up the climb “The Grack”) starts at the parking lot across from Upper Pines campground and cuts into the forest to the base of Glacier Point. Once you get to the base, go left and follow it along the base.

> thanks again. one last question - are most trails clearly marked?

Assuming there's no snow obfuscation you'd have to really really screw up to lose any of the trails you'll be on.

> any recommendation for maps / guides and where to best get them?

My favorite maps of the park are the National Geographic Trails Illustrated series. You can find these everywhere (And don't need all 4 if you won't be going into the far corners of the park)
http://www.amazon.com/Yosemite-National-Bundle-Geographic-Illustrated/dp/1597754064
(And that's my photo is on the cover of the Hetch Hetchy one :) )

> assume there's no cell service so using online guides is out.

Cell service in the valley is far better than it used to be but I wouldn't ever count on it being available.

I bought two sets of these for a trip last year. Might be cheaper than renting them. Used them twice; they're surprisingly well made and definitely got the job done.

Staying in Wawona campground, but will be exploring the hits in the Valley. Won't be headed north of the valley since we're coming back on Sunday and time is precious.

Planning on floating down the river... have a ton of these and these, so if you see just such a flotilla on Friday or Saturday, that's us! Too bad there's no secret Redditor hand signal ;)

Edit: or IS there?!

I climbed Half Dome yesterday, too. It's a long hike up there! We started the trail at 4:50am. Took the Mist Trail up. Summited Half Dome at noon (big traffic jam on the cables). Took the John Muir Trail down. Got back to Curry village at 5:30pm.

Definitely bring gloves. Ones with a rubber grip worked really well.

I recommend a particulate respirator if anyone is going to be in the thick of it. I wore one in Yosemite one year when it was really smokey during my visit, and it's like breathing in clean air even when it's smokey. Hike on.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002YKBV2/ (Not sure if that Amazon link is still pointing to the one I purchased awhile back since that one says sanding, but these are ones I used: http://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/company-us/all-3m-products/~/3M-Particulate-Respirator-8511-N95-80-EA-Case?N=5002385+3294780243&rt=rud)

I bring this and 2 Nalgene bottles with me when I hike in the Sierras. Worth every penny. You can get fresh drinking water from any river or stream.

https://www.amazon.com/MSR-56425-MiniWorks-EX-Microfilter/dp/B000BBF2RY/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1504405572&sr=8-5&keywords=water+filter+pump

While it's not free, it's wayyy better than the NPS map. The Nat Geo Yosemite map has Topo lines, mileage, and generally more detail than the basic NPS map... Only 10 bucks too. I don't think NPS will send you one of theirs for free unfortunately.

Usually, the envelope you put the money in will have a detachable ticket you place under a clip or something on the numbered stake indicating the site. You'd put down things like your name, the date, and the site number and 'reserve' it by paying the fee. I've never had a problem doing this and then leaving to go do other things. Sometimes I'll leave a chair or something I don't care too much about on the picnic table so it's clear that the site is occupied.

Check out this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Eastern-Sierra-Valley-Camping-Privacy/dp/1515196208

https://www.amazon.com/Off-Wall-Yosemite-Michael-Ghiglieri/dp/0970097360