Leon Turnbull Photography

It is impossible to see Waterwheel Falls at peak flow. Never mind that Tioga Pass road is not open until well past the high flow for the year. If you go the way I did in early season you have one big issue: the crossing of Register Creek. It was my great desire to see Waterwheel Falls at the highest flow possible. But how high could I really see it? With the data I had I determined that 1000 cfs on the Tuolumne River was the highest I could reasonably and safely cross Register Creek. Any higher than this and the creek would be uncrossable. My initial plan was to wait until mid May to come here which would be past the peak flow (and safer). However, late season April storms changed this plan. Now I determined I should come earlier in the season (before the peak flow). This is a lot trickier for timing. I would not want to be caught on the wrong side of Register Creek when all of a sudden the snow melt explodes within a day or two (which it most certainly can do and has done before). I watched the weather and the flow very closely for weeks. I had a window and it was about to close. On Monday 5/2 the flow was at 980 cfs and rising. On Tuesday the weather was forecast to warm up significantly. This would cause the snow melt to shoot up significantly as well. If I could get to Waterwheel Falls by Monday and return back across Register Creek before noon on Tuesday I would be golden. My timing was impeccable.

I slept very well at my campsite beside Register Creek. None of the other days on the trip did I sleep well. Just this one night. Was it because I slept next to a roaring waterfall? I don’t know about that. Anyway, I woke early, packed, and then took a long look at the creek. I expected it to be down a bit from the previous night. It was most certainly *not* down. This was surprising. Snow melt always peaks during the late part of the day and during the night the flow is reduced when the temperatures cool down. Hmmm well … this should be a bit interesting. The crossing was actually not too bad. There was definitely a strong pull but it was safe enough; although if it was too much higher it would definitely have been uncrossable. I believe my estimate was pretty much spot on.

You may perhaps be wondering about all this planning that I did for this trip. Is it really necessary? It is absolutely necessary. You cannot just go out on a hike la di da and not know what the conditions are. It does not matter if it is creek crossings or snow or weather or whatever else. If you were to go on this hike and do the crossing of Register Creek and then come back 2 days later and find out you cannot cross it then what are you going to do? A lot of people would try crossing it anyway and that is exactly how people die. Anyway back to my story …

As the sun came up I found myself at the top of Muir Gorge looking across at Ten Lakes Falls and over the Tuolumne River with the snowy mountains in the background. It was a very spiritual moment for me. Such incredible beauty in God’s creation. I was truly at a loss for words.

I was not at a loss for words when I caught my first glance of Waterwheel Falls. The words out of my mouth actually were: HOLY CRAP! What an amazing sight to see, 314 ft. of sheer power. Waterwheel Falls was out of this world astounding. Holy awesome waterfall, Batman!

It was only noon when I arrived at my campsite at the base of Waterwheel Falls. It was a short day and I was able to get some much needed rest the entire afternoon. It was a gorgeous afternoon.

In the evening I climbed to the top of the waterfall. When I was here in late May 2012 (a drought year) Waterwheel Falls had much lower flow. At lower flows you cannot really notice the namesake “waterwheel” of this falls. I did not notice it anyway. Indeed nearby Le Conte Falls had a more significant waterwheel than Waterwheel Falls. This is one of the reasons why many people mistake Le Conte Falls for Waterwheel Falls. I very much wanted to see the real “waterwheel” of Waterwheel Falls. Standing at the brink of the 314 ft. falls at high flow, I found it indeed. It was spectacular. Now I had a tough choice to make. The waterfall is in the sun until the very end of the day. I could take a photo at sunset from the top of the falls or at the bottom of the falls. I could not do both. I decided that I would go back down to the bottom and photograph the falls from there at sunset. I made the wrong choice and I regret it. I’m really mad at myself about it. I should have stayed at the top for that iconic shot of the waterwheel. At the bottom it was just far too misty everywhere to get any kind of good photograph. Out of all the many shots I took I only got one decent photo (pictured here, obviously). It is probably a miracle that I even got one decent shot. (thanks Lord, whew). It is not a bad photo at all but it still would have been a much nicer shot from the top. Oh well, nothing I can do about it now. I could have stayed a second night at Waterwheel Falls and I probably would have, except then I’d surely be stuck on the wrong side of Register Creek. My window was closing rapidly and I had to leave the next day or I’d be in serious trouble. Time for bed.