Tuolumne Meadows - Glen Aulin Hike, June 1, 2016

Postby Tony Crocker » Tue Jun 07, 2016 2:56 am

I have hiked down the Tuolumne River from Tuolumne Meadows before in 1985 and 2006, but both times later in the year. Nonetheless this is the first time I've made it to the Glen Aulin camp. Map of our route drawn in purple:
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We had to pack and also had a big breakfast at The Stove in Mammoth. Thus we parked near Pothole Dome at the south end of Tuolumne Meadows about 10:30AM.
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This shortens the hike downstream but is not on an established trail. At Memorial Day of a normal snow year most but not all of the snow is gone, but the river is high, thus the scenic attraction for us. There are also a lot of swampy meadows, standing water and high flowing tributaries. This cuts down hiker traffic on the trail north of the river that can be quite busy mid-summer. The south side upstream from the bridge above Tuolumne Falls is quieter and we saw zero other people there during the first 2 1/2 hours of our hike.

We started along the road to skirt the wet meadow and hiked north into the forest west of pothole dome. Trees were spaced and there was minimal brush but we had to avoid a few wet patches and get through a few snow patches. We reached the Tuolumne River in about an hour.
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The river widens just past this area and in spring overflows into ponds and meadows. So we were back in the forest for awhile. Here we were able to cut across a drier section of the meadow.
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Now we're in a snowbank next to the large overflow pond.
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I postholed once.
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Finally we reach the Tuolumne River flowing more swiftly over granite.
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And a section with snow still covering the granite to river's edge.
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At 1PM we stopped for lunch overlooking a narrow gorge.
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Looking up at our lunch rock from about 100 yards downstream.
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We had to climb up over some rocks where water covered the more direct route along the river.
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Around 2PM we were at the upper section of Tuolumne Falls.
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The bridge above brings the trail to the south side of the river, but we walked mostly along the granite for better views
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The Tuolumne continues cascading down the granite.
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I have not found out why the small hut on the other side is there.

White Cascade is the final drop above Glen Aulin.
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Supposedly that's a swimming hole in mellower mid summer conditions.

We continued 1.4 mile farther to the Glen Aulin High Sierra Camp. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Sier ... ierra_Camp
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In July/August this is one of 6 Yosemite high country camps where tents with cots and meals are provided, similar to the multiday hikes Liz and I did in Patagonia in 2011 and New Zealand in 2012. My understanding is that there is a lottery for the limited number of slots.

But it's still early season with high water and we saw only 3 people during the 2+ hours we were in the spectacular scenery below the Tuolumne Falls bridge. Here's some of that high water on the approach to the Glen Aulin bridge.
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We headed back up at 3:15, staying on trail and reaching the Tuolumne Falls bridge an hour later, also with high water on its approach.
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We should have retraced our route south of the river, but we thought due to the late hour it would be more sensible to return via the established trail. The first hour or so was fine, and we soon reached the wide section of the river with a view south to 10,911 foot Cathedral Peak.
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The established Glen Aulin trail north of the Tuolumne river is crossed by several creeks, which in high water can be considerable obstacles. We did not find a bridge across Dingley Creek, but it was shallow where it crossed the trail so we removed our shoes to cross here.
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This was not difficult but there was quite a shock from the cold by the time we made it across.

Fortunately we found a fallen log to cross this creek.
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Here we had a nice view from Unicorn Peak at left to Cathedral Peak at right.
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We arrived at Delaney Creek about 6:15PM. We were told by an Aussie backpacker headed downstream that there was a log crossing for this one. We soon found these.
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Unfortunately these only got us to the west bank of an island where Delaney Creek had split and we found no logs across the east bank. We retreated and followed the creek all the way to the Tuolumne, hoping it would spread out in the meadow to allow a foot crossing. But everywhere there was a fairly swift channel of indeterminate depth which we did not want to risk. We headed upstream past the island and eventually found the Aussie's log, where the swift current occasionally splashed over it. Exhausted and concerned with getting across safely, Liz and I both neglected to take any pictures there. It took us a full hour to find this crossing.

Finally the end is near approaching Lembert Dome.
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At twilight deer were feeding in many places near the trailhead.
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Note the enticing snowfield on the north side of Unicorn Peak in the background. Liz and I hiked to Elizabeth Lake in that direction in May 2012.

There were 3 cars of campers at the Lembert Dome trailhead when we arrived at 8:15PM, and one of them gave us a ride to our car at the other end of Tuolumne Meadows.
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Re: Tuolumne Meadows - Glen Aulin Hike, June 1, 2016

Postby berkshireskier » Tue Jun 07, 2016 8:28 am

Nice photos.........thanks for posting! Just out of curiosity, where does all that water eventually end up?
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Re: Tuolumne Meadows - Glen Aulin Hike, June 1, 2016

Postby Admin » Tue Jun 07, 2016 8:31 am

berkshireskier wrote:Nice photos.........thanks for posting! Just out of curiosity, where does all that water eventually end up?


The Pacific. :wink:
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Re: Tuolumne Meadows - Glen Aulin Hike, June 1, 2016

Postby Marc_C » Tue Jun 07, 2016 10:15 am

Admin wrote:
berkshireskier wrote:Nice photos.........thanks for posting! Just out of curiosity, where does all that water eventually end up?


The Pacific. :wink:

There's one in every crowd. :roll:
The Tuolumne drains into the San Joaquin in the central valley near Modesto.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuolumne_River
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Re: Tuolumne Meadows - Glen Aulin Hike, June 1, 2016

Postby Admin » Tue Jun 07, 2016 11:08 am

Well, I did answer his precise question very accurately, did I not? :lol:
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Re: Tuolumne Meadows - Glen Aulin Hike, June 1, 2016

Postby berkshireskier » Tue Jun 07, 2016 12:18 pm

Admin wrote:Well, I did answer his precise question very accurately, did I not? :lol:


Yea, sorry for my "imprecision". LOL
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Re: Tuolumne Meadows - Glen Aulin Hike, June 1, 2016

Postby tseeb » Tue Jun 07, 2016 12:24 pm

berkshireskier wrote:Just out of curiosity, where does all that water eventually end up?

Not all of the water ends up in the Pacific (at least before being used) as the Tuolumne River is dammed by O'Shaughnessy Dam forming Hetch Hetchy Reservoir which provides water to San Francisco, parts of San Jose and many other Bay Area cities. There have studies of breaching this dam to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley which rivals Yosemite Valley with waterfalls and glacier-polished granite. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetch_Het ... rstadt.jpg for a painting of it. There is also New Don Pedro dam downstream which has 6 times the water storage of Hetch Hechy.

There are a lot more waterfalls below Glen Aulin High Sierra Camp including California, Le Conte and Waterwheel Falls. For Waterwheel, see http://www.world-of-waterfalls.com/yose ... falls.html I've only seen some of these from way above at Wildcat Point when I backpacked to Mattie Lake in the early 80s. It would be a great one-way backpack trip from Tuolumne Meadow to Hetch Hetchy.

Edited to correct spelling of 'dammed' although some people feel Hetch Hetchy was 'damned' by O'Shaughnessy Dam
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Re: Tuolumne Meadows - Glen Aulin Hike, June 1, 2016

Postby Tony Crocker » Tue Jun 07, 2016 2:15 pm

tseeb wrote:It would be a great one-way backpack trip from Tuolumne Meadow to Hetch Hetchy.


Our hike was the part marked purple at the right. It's not clear to me what trail will get you to and around Hetch Hetchy from the east to an eventual pickup at O'Shaughnessy Dam. The accounts I read online show people hiking out to White Wolf as shown in red.

As tseeb noted, most of the water probably ends up in San Francisco. Hetch Hetchy was the major political fight of John Muir's career, which he lost. Recreationally, Hetch Hetchy is a big plus. The stretch of the Tuolumne between Hetch Hetchy and Don Pedro contains some of California's premier whitewater, and it runs all summer in normal or better years with dam releases from Hetch Hetchy. viewtopic.php?t=1110
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Re: Tuolumne Meadows - Glen Aulin Hike, June 1, 2016

Postby tseeb » Tue Jun 07, 2016 3:02 pm

Tony Crocker wrote "Recreationally, Hetch Hetchy is a big plus." For recreation on the river below the dam that is true, but for hiking above the dam, the lake with high granite walls means a big climb to get past it.

My friends were going to hike from Tuolumne Meadows to Hetch Hetchy over Labor Day weekend many years ago and snow and I think also bears getting into their food drove them out at White Wolf. The problem with exiting at White Wolf is that it is a 4K climb from the river to there. The problem with continuing to Hetch Hetchy is that you have to go over/behind Rancheria Mountain. But it is better to go down the Tuolumne and lose 4,800' than to go the other way and gain it. You would doing the reverse of the following so your biggest climb is 3K.

From 2nd to last post at http://www.yosemite.ca.us/forum/viewtop ... f=7&t=2038
"Approx 45 miles. Up 5K ft, down 1.5K ft, up 1K, down 3K, up 4K.
Major crossing at Piute. NOT BRIDGED. Tuolumne can flood east of Pate.
Register is NOT BRIDGED. Glen Aulin Proper can be flooded.
Twin Bridges can be flooded. Dingley and Delaney can be problematic.
Most people do the White Wolf way b/c they look at Rancheria Mtn. and cry."

White Wolf does have the advantage of hikers bus while you would have to setup your own shuttle to Hetch Hetchy.

Picture is Wapama Falls at Hetch Hetchy is Oct 2011. Many years there is no (or not much) water here past June. Before the dam these falls may have been 400 feet taller than current height of 1300 feet according to http://www.waterfallswest.com/waterfall ... l-park-411
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Re: Tuolumne Meadows - Glen Aulin Hike, June 1, 2016

Postby Tony Crocker » Tue Jun 07, 2016 4:50 pm

So isn't the climb over Rancheria to get to Hetch Hetchy as rigorous as the climb up to White Wolf?

I looked (not too hard) to find a topo showing that trail. And if that requires:
tseeb wrote:Major crossing at Piute. NOT BRIDGED. Tuolumne can flood east of Pate.

it's off the table during high water season. We had enough trouble getting past Delaney Creek. :lol:

What would be more helpful perhaps would be a boat crossing Hetch Hetchy, like at Edison Lake or Saddleback Lake.

I should have said "Hetch Hetchy's upside," as it's good for the whitewater rafting but an obvious impediment to hikers.
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Re: Tuolumne Meadows - Glen Aulin Hike, June 1, 2016

Postby tseeb » Wed Jun 08, 2016 8:42 am

Tony Crocker wrote:So isn't the climb over Rancheria to get to Hetch Hetchy as rigorous as the climb up to White Wolf?


Either one sounds bad while carrying a big pack. The climb over Rancheria going downstream is not as big as the climb up to White Wolf, but it's still big and trail is not as well used or maintained.
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