Difficulty: Extreme. It's long, steep at the beginning and end, and more dangerous than most Yosemite hikes. It's probably the most difficult of all Yosemite day hikes.
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The National Parks Service describes Half Dome as the most strenuous day hike in Yosemite, and probably the toughest (recommended) day hike in any National Park. So while you can certainly just show up and give the hike a go, you'll enjoy it more if your fitness level is up to snuff.
You can go at your own pace, as long as you have enough daylight! With that being said, this is still an incredibly strenuous hike for the average person. You should have a few other day hikes of 12+ miles under your belt before you attempt Half Dome, including hikes that have a decent amount of elevation gain.
While 14 miles and 5,000 feet of gain might not be too challenging for some people, most will consider this a very strenuous day hike and struggle to make it to the summit. And getting to the top of Half Dome is only half the battle! You'll have to make it back down to the trailhead when you're extremely tired.
The National Park Service considers ascending the 4,800 feet and traveling the minimum 14.5 miles to Half Dome's summit, “one of the most challenging day hikes in any national park.” Measured by vertical ascent, hiking Half Dome is roughly three times as challenging as hiking Angels Landing, and even includes a 7-mile ...
Half Dome has an elevation of 8,844 feet and sits 4,737 feet above the valley floor. It takes an equivalent 473 flights of stairs to reach the top, which means 118 trips from the First Floor Lantern to the McFadden-Willis Reading Room.
While gear lists and physical training are similar for climbing both peaks, K2 is widely considered a more technically challenging and dangerous mountain to climb than Everest.
There are many factors that people value at different amounts. Now, K2 is either the most or 2nd most difficult 8000er at the least (Annapurna is more dangerous but K2 is considered harder) and K2 has the 2nd least amount of oxygen of any peak on Earth.