Hikers don’t like the fact that Yosemite National Park requires permits to hike Half Dome or that just 300 are available a day, but they also didn’t like the pre-permit swarms that could bring as many as 1,200 people to the iconic route. Three years into the permit experiment, the park likes what it sees, and it just announced the plan will be permanent. And in addition to the 300-hiker limit, safety cables will remain in place, to the chagrin of environmentalists who argued the steel lines had no place in designated wilderness. The lines were put in prior to the 1964 Wilderness Act and make it possible for people to descend the 45-degree granite in 45 minutes should a fast-moving summer storm sweep through. “With a place like Yosemite that is so dear and important to millions of people, everyone has ideas about what wilderness protection is. We tried to find a balance that allows people to still experience Yosemite while protecting Yosemite,” said spokeswoman Kari Cobb. Via Associated Press.

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Tags: National Parks

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