Yosemite, CA — The cable handrails that allow visitors to pull themselves up Half Dome in Yosemite National Park are joining a long list of other sites on the National Register of Historic Places. The Park Service added the trail and the cables to the list last month even as officials are working on a plan that could limit access along the route.
Ranger Kari Cobb says getting put on the list isn’t changing how they handle the use of the cables. Cobb says “The Half Dome Hike is our most popular hike. This placing it on the registry helps to elevate its significance and reiterates the importance of Half Dome itself.” Cobb adds “Just because it has been placed on the National History Register doesn’t mean that we are going to manage it any differently than we have in the past and we will continue to manage it in the ways we are doing now.”
Cobb says currently only 400 visitors are allowed to use the cables a day and they must have a permit. Some have argued that the cables should not exist in a federal wilderness area that is supposed to be free of anything manmade.
Click here for more information about the permits
This post was last modified on 09/12/2012 4:50 pm
Yosemite, CA — The cable handrails that allow visitors to pull themselves up Half Dome in Yosemite National Park are joining a long list of other sites on the National Register of Historic Places. The Park Service added the trail and the cables to the list last month even as officials are working on a plan that could limit access along the route.
Ranger Kari Cobb says getting put on the list isn’t changing how they handle the use of the cables. Cobb says “The Half Dome Hike is our most popular hike. This placing it on the registry helps to elevate its significance and reiterates the importance of Half Dome itself.” Cobb adds “Just because it has been placed on the National History Register doesn’t mean that we are going to manage it any differently than we have in the past and we will continue to manage it in the ways we are doing now.”
Cobb says currently only 400 visitors are allowed to use the cables a day and they must have a permit. Some have argued that the cables should not exist in a federal wilderness area that is supposed to be free of anything manmade.
Click here for more information about the permits
Written by Tracey Petersen.
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