We arrive at the Tuolumne Ranger Station at 6:30 AM and are surprised to see a line already forming. In the past we've always just showed up and got a same day walk in permit. Today looked to be different as all of the people in line were getting a permit for tomorrow! We have fun visiting and shivering (it is chilly) while we wait for the ranger to show up at 8 AM. She walks down the line and asks each person where they want to hike and what trailhead they want to enter on. On our turn we ask what is available for today. We pick entry at the Glen Aulin Trailhead to hike the Tuolumne River. It helps to be flexible when getting a permit. We don't really care where we hike and had a few options in mind.
We swim here before we begin the 500 foot climb out of the canyon to go around the impassible Muir gorge. Then down the other side. More stairs. There is nice camping just west of the gorge and we spy this idyllic cooling off spot. Although it is getting late, I go in for my last dip of the day before hiking on.
The shadows lengthen and we make camp a few miles upstream from Pate Valley. An 18 mile day.
The flowers are amazing.
Westbound to Yosemite Valley.
Eastbound to Tuolumne Meadows.
We have breakfast at the Tuolumne Grill and begin hiking at 9:30 AM.
The trail is all downhill now, no little rises as it goes over or around a hill.
Flowers line parts of the trail.
It's a gorgeous High Sierra day. Our steps are light as we tread along the familiar trail to Glen Aulin. It is mostly downhill as we drop 600 feet over the 6 miles. It couldn't be any prettier.
It's a little after noon when we reach Glen Aulin. There are some fisherman and swimmers frolicking about on this perfect summer day. It might be about 80 degrees.
We continue downstream towards Water Wheel falls 3.3 miles away and about 1500 feet lower.
Granite above.
Water beside. We always have water beside us. We stop for lunch and take a swim.
It's exciting to see the canyon open up below us. The views are expansive.
With one cascade and waterfall after another. The roar of the water is awesome.
Water Wheel falls are not at their peak flow, but there are a few water wheels going. Soon we head down a lot of stairs.
This is looking back up. It is hot going down as some of the switchbacks block the nice breeze coming up the river. We meet a hand full of hikers coming up stream and they look especially hot. We are glad to be hiking down stream although we are warned that our hike out of the canyon will be "wicked" steep.
It's a really nice hike. There are lots a camping sites along the way. Near the bridge at Return Creek there are some bigger spots to camp in.
We hike on. Stopping for quite a few quick dips in the river always making sure there isn't too fast of water or a waterfall below us.
We soon see 2 rattlesnakes laying across the trail. They don't rattle or get distressed. They seem used to hikers and they just slowly slither off the trail.
A little alpen glow. A tent to keep out the bugs and snakes and a cascade nearby. Perfect.
Only it isn't! The noise of the roaring water goes from awesome to overpowering and we wake often in the night from dreaming about giant whirring fans that don't turn off.
Morning dawns after a very warm night and we break camp and continue down the river. We see another rattlesnake and more pretty views.
In a few miles we come to Pate Valley and it is a very lovely spot. Great camping. There is a California Conservation Camp here too.
8.4 miles to White Wolf our destination.
It's a few miles through the valley before we begin the dreaded "wicked" climb.
We are climbing now. My legs had forgotten what that is. That is Pate Valley below us. The trail is good for plodding as it has switchbacks without many stairs. Some sections have cobblestones though and are hard on the feet. Luckily you go in and out of shade. We count off every 500 feet we climb. We have a total of almost 3400 feet to climb. I get hot and start going really slow.
We stop at a little creek for water and lunch and soak our feet for a while before continuing.
We see Hetch Hetchy below us.
After about 500 more feet we kind of hit a gentle plateau and the forest turns green with lots of flowers. We have a little less than 4 more miles to White Wolf through this lovely and easy hiking landscape.
These photos don't do them justice.
After passing little Harden Lake the trail turns into a dirt road and the last few miles of our 2 day 30.5 mile hike drag on and on.
White Wolf is not yet open for the season (!?) so we sit at a picnic table and snack from our supplies. We were hoping for a Gatorade after that climb. Yarts is scheduled to come here at 6 pm headed to Tuolumne Meadows where our car is parked. We have a 3.5 hour wait. Except we get a ride from some tourists passing through.
Here is the 2016 Yarts schedule.
This was a fun, beautiful, moderately strenuous hike. The climb out of Pate valley was very strenuous. We liked having the relatively easy hike down the river and then just plodding up and out at the end of our hike without stairs. Stairs are harder for me. We met many going the opposite direction though. Most folks were hiking the canyon in 3 days while we opted for 2.
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