Leon Turnbull Photography

I have been to Crystal Basin Falls before but I always wanted to return at peak flow in spring and camp here as well. I envisioned it being very spectacular in spring. I put it on my list to do this year.

The timing for my vision was critical and after checking the snow maps and satellite images I thought this weekend might be one or two weeks too early. However, the next couple weeks would not be possible for me so I decided to go now. There would likely still be a lot of snow here but it still should be good.

The road to Wrights Lake on Highway 50 was still closed and gated (at least, that is what the website indicated) so my idea was to go from Ice House Reservoir. It is 10 miles to Wrights Lake from there and there would be snow but I figured I would drive as far as possible and hike the rest of the way. I hoped to drive at least 3 miles on the road. I drove 5 miles before I hit the first snow bump on the road and decided to park here. I think I could have driven a little further but I wanted to get in a decent hike. It would be 5 miles on the road plus 3 miles on the trail to Crystal Basin Falls. It would be a fairly easy hike which I certainly needed after the huge one I did in Yosemite last week.

Wrights Lake was closed in the summer for the Caldor Fire which raged through here. You might expect the entire lake to be burned but in fact there was no burn through this area at all. It was as beautiful as always. That is a good thing for sure. I did see badly burned areas along the American River canyon (highway 50) but nothing in Ice House or Wrights Lake area.

I reached the trailhead for the Rockbound Trail. This is where I expected things to get very difficult with the trail being very snowy and very muddy. Instead I found the trail to be almost all clear and very easy. This was shocking. The snow must have all melted off in just one week. Now I am thinking I was not 1 or 2 weeks too early but perhaps 1 week too late.

I arrived easily at Crystal Basin Falls at about 12:30PM. The waterfall was nice for sure but definitely not what I had envisioned. Even if I had been 1 week earlier I don’t think it would have made much difference. I now think I probably need to come back during an above average year at peak flow. Anyhow I setup my tent right next to the waterfall and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. It was an incredibly beautiful spot.

In the evening I decided to hike up to Twin Lakes. Normally I would hike on the south side of the creek but the creek was too high to cross without getting very wet and there was quite a bit of snow on that side so I tried the north side of the creek instead. It was a little difficult getting up above the waterfall but once I was able to do that it was mostly easy going up to Twin Lakes. However, the closer I got to Twin Lakes the more snow there was to traverse. It was soft but I was not postholing. Twin Lakes was very gorgeous and still iced over. The waterfall was flowing but not as well as I had seen it before. I did not stay for sunset to take photos. If I had stayed then I would be hiking back down in the dark back to camp and I did not want to do that. I already have good photos of those waterfalls. I would much rather go back down and take photos of the lower falls in the evening. That is what I did.

Part 2 is on the way …

This is Far Lower Piute Creek Falls, where I camped on my second last night.

My final day! I had to make it back to Hetch Hetchy by about 4:30pm because the gate closes at 5pm. I needed to allow 8 hours for the hike. So my brilliant math calculation told me that 4:30pm minus 8 hours is 6:30am. This the math of a madman. Doh! I’m an idiot. I was up early anyway (I always am) but I could have at least allowed time to have some coffee in the morning.

Anyhow I made very good time through the horrible brushy section and arrived at Smith Meadows in 3 hours. (it took 4 hours on the way up). From here it was 3 hours back to the car. I had forgotten about the horrible brushy section just past Smith Meadows. I guess I had blocked it out of my mind. Well that section took a bit of time to negotiate but finally made it past all the brushiness and then I was home free. All down hill back to the car and on a decent trail. I arrived back at 1PM.

I drove straight to Pizza Factory in Groveland. My usual after backpacking place to stop.

So as for the trip I did not see too much wildlife: just one deer, one big lizard, and two harmless rubber boa snakes. I saw a lot of fresh bear tracks and scat but never did see any of them which was disappointing.

I saw 13 waterfalls including 11 new ones. What does that bring my Yosemite total to? I have now seen 86 out of 161 Yosemite waterfalls or 53%. Hmph. Still a long way to go but I do have some more Yosemite trips I hope to make this spring. All in all it was a 6 day fabulous backpacking trip into the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River.

In the morning I woke and began to climb up into Piute Canyon in search of more waterfalls. I wasn’t expecting to get far and indeed I did not. However, I did make it to Lower Piute Creek Falls which is a marvelous tiered waterfall consisting of a couple sweet 30 ft. drops (only one tier is shown in this photo but I took many photos). I was actually really happy to make it to this lower falls. There is a bigger waterfall further up canyon but there was absolutely no way to continue. It was just too cliffy and much too brushy. I returned back to camp and ate breakfast.

It was still early in the morning so I decided to pack up and head out, up up and away, out of the canyon. I would be going home one day early but I had seen everything I wanted to or could see and there was nothing else. Let’s go home!

I had 3500 ft. to climb out of the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne plus the additional 500 ft. up to Lower Piute Creek Falls that I made in the morning for a whopping 4000 ft. of elevation gain for the day. I would be doing most of the 3500 ft. in the heat of the afternoon. It was going to be a doozy. Nonetheless I felt good for the entire climb. My pack was a bit lighter now though probably still 37 or 38 pounds. It was only when I reached the top that I finally reached my limit and I was close to bonking. I do not think I could have climbed any more elevation if I had to. The last mile or so to Harden Lake was nice and flat. I found the same campsite that I had for the first night of the trip. The frogs were still there (and loud). The mosquitoes made their first appearance of the trip in the evening so I ended up going into my tent before the sunset. Also I saw human. There were a couple guys camped at Harden Lake on the other side of the lake. These are the only people I saw for the entire trip (6 days).  This is world famous Yosemite National Park and I saw absolutely no one until now. When I was at Waterwheel Falls there was literally no other human within 30 miles. When I spoke to them in the morning they said they were not planning to go down to the river. Their trip route did not seem to be an especially interesting one with not to mention far too much bushwhacking involved. To each his own I guess. Well I sure had an awesome trip. And tomorrow there would be pizza.

My night at Waterwheel Falls was my coldest night of the trip. It did not get down to freezing like it did at Harden Lake (though it was probably a bit under 40 degrees) but it felt much colder probably due to all the mist from the waterfall. Once I put on all my layers I was quite warm in my sleeping bag so it is definitely a very good thing that I brought my extra clothes. Of all the gear I brought with me in my 46 pound bag the only thing I did not need were my spikes and a second can of fuel and my rain gear. (it never did rain on my trip though it was in the forecast). All in all I think I packed very well.

One of the major waterfalls I wanted to see on this trip was Cathedral Creek Falls, a monster 350 ft. tiered waterfall dropping straight into the Tuolumne River. It is 3 miles downstream from Waterwheel Falls so I needed to get up early and hike back down the trail as quickly as possible in order to make it there in good lighting. I arrived at the falls at 8AM. Cathedral Creek Falls was definitely one of the highlights from my trip, an absolute beauty. You cannot see the upper tier from the river side so the photo shown here only shows the lower tier dropping into the river (I did take a photo of the upper tier also).

After photographing Cathedral Creek Falls I could finally relax and I made my breakfast with coffee here enjoying the sight of the waterfall in the warm sun before continuing on my journey. Of course I still had to make it back across Register Creek.

I got back to Register Creek at around noon, right on schedule. The creek may have been a bit higher than the day before but it was not noticeable and I safely made the crossing. I suspect that one day later the creek would have been significantly higher. The river flow jumped up from 980 to 1080 cfs on 5/3 (and continued to rise even higher on the days following). Whether it would still be crossable or not I don’t know but I am glad I planned my trip the way I did. Safety first.

My destination for this day was Piute Canyon, a very interesting side trip from the Tuolumne River with questionable access. Who ever said the most beautiful things are easy to reach? The trail is seldom used but it is not hard to follow at first. Until you reach a massive swamp. The trail seemed to go straight through the swamp. It was deep and ugly. I did not (and could not) hike through it. I tried to find a way up through the brush around it and with great difficulty I did. Now on the other side of the brush I could continue on the trail easily again. Until I came to the section where I needed to go off trail and down to my camp along Piute Creek. This part was extremely brushy and difficult. I do not remember it looking so brushy on Google Earth. Indeed it was supposed to be nice and open. Well I made it down to the creek and I was happy to find a nice camping location right beside a gorgeous 50 ft. cascade (this was a nice bonus waterfall on my trip). Piute Canyon is a very beautiful and seldom seen canyon in Yosemite and I had a very lovely evening.

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.