| |
| Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne Loop, CA | |
|
| | Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne Loop, CA | | | |
|
|
Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne Loop, CA
| | |
|
| Backpack | 58.50 Miles |
12,150 AEG |
| | Backpack | 58.50 Miles | 5 Days | | |
| 12,150 ft AEG | | | | |
|
|
| |
| Partners |
|
[ show ]
| partners | | Left Phoenix about 930am and headed for Lee Vinning at the foot of the eastern Sierra. We got there early evening and stayed at the Lake View Lodge overlooking Mono Lake. Not a bad way to start the week!
Next morning had the drive into Yosemite and visited the Backcountry Office to get the permits. Took awhile but eventually we made it to Lukens Trailhead for the start of the backpack.
Day1
Only about ¾ mile to Lukens Lake from the trailhead and start of mosquito fun. They were really thick passed the lake and along the Middle Fork of Tuolumne River. Dropping down into the next valley we then started the main climb of the day up to Ten Lakes Pass about 1500 feet. Great views from the pass back into Yosemite. We passed the first of Ten Lakes before hiking to one of the upper lakes and camp. Great spot at just over 9000 feet and 12 mile day.
Day2
Turned out to be the longest day of the trip around 16 miles. We traversed a couple of valleys and went over a snowy pass near Tuolumne Peak. The pass had lots of snow left over from the snowy winter and made for an interesting route. Fortunately, the trail construction is top grade NPS quality, so we were able to find the tread and rock work over the pass.
Long descent into the next valley and another mosquito infested section. There were also many left over snow banks to cross even down at 8000 feet. Trail crossed Cathedral Creek and then passed McGee Lake before reaching Tuolumne River. Briefly intersected with the PCT and we camped at Glen Aulin High Sierra Camp on the Tuolumne River. Long day and everyone was pretty tired.
Day3
This day was definitely the highlight of the trip. From Glen Aulin High Sierra Camp we continued down the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River passed numerous waterfalls and cascades. The first one was California Falls and awesome intro of the rest of the day. LeConte Falls was next up before continuing to the largest one Waterwheel Falls. We took a decent break to enjoy the stellar views and just admire the power of the water.
Downstream of Waterwheel there are numerous smaller cascades and falls that we passed. Eventually we made camp a little past the Muir Gorge bypass at a really cool cascade. By now we had dropped in elevation just below 5000 so the night was balmy after about 13 mile day. Fortunately, the river was ice cold!
Day4
Continuing down canyon our goal was to exit the river and knock off about 2/3 of the climb. We had about 6 to 7 miles of the canyon going through Pate Valley. Great camping options in the valley but we continued on to the ascent. Once on the climb we followed Morrison Creek for the most part. This section was very steep and lots of downfall from the winter. One section had every tree obliterated from an avalanche so there were match sticks to climb over and through.
Eventually we made it to nicer trail and some great switchbacks that got us out of the hot valley and into some cooler temps. Ended up camping at about 6800 feet along Morrison Creek for about 10 mile day. Also, finished a bit earlier than previous days so we had some time to relax and recover from some hard hiking.
Day5 Exit
Last day we just had to hike about 7.5 miles and 1700 feet of AEG. We made an earlyish start to knock out the final miles. Having left camp first I was out front and ran into a bear. It was right next to the trail and we scared the crap out of each other. Feeling I was a bit too close I moved away and unfortunately did not get a picture. 9L ran into the same bear about 10 minutes later and said he did get a pic.
All safe back at the trailhead we enjoyed a beverage and some fresh clothes. First backpack after knee surgery so glad it all went well. All packed up we started the long drive back to Phoenix.
Great trip…thanks to 9L for doing all the planning/permit stuff!! |
| _____________________
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
