Tuolumne

View from Lower Tuolumne put-in, looking upstream. Hillside burned in 2013 Rim Fire

Tuolumne River is open and runnable. No restrictions are posted on Lumsden Road. Burned areas from the Rim Fire are noticeable and significant but most of the vegetation at river level has survived, and the popular camp sites along the river are in good shape.

When the reservoir is low, boaters have a steep loose trail to climb up to the Ward's Ferry Bridge.

The rafts dropped down the left to just above the huge boulder. Instead of squeezing through the left side slot, they made a tight move back to the right below the boulder visible behind the rafters heads. Then they were in a clean middle channel.

Apparently road was repaired spring 2012.

Two photos of the Tuolumne sent in by Brent Davis.

Dan going down one of the first rapids on the Tuolumne.
Evan having a great day, having just ran the second Class IV rapid, Nemesis.
Looking back upstream at Sunderland's Chute. Which at the bottom contained about 3 diifferent, diagonal crashing holes. Very fun and eye opening!!!
Looking back upstream at Class IV Ram's Head.

Sometimes getting to the rapids is more dangerous than the rapids themselves! On this dirt switchback bus rideto the put-in at Meral's Pool, SUVs were racing up the hill at 15 mph, almost careening over the side of the cliffs or crashing into the bus while we were descending into the canyon....on these one-way 'roads' courtesy, cooperation, and slow speeds are critical to getting to the fun.
Scouting Class V Clavey Falls is critical, but you must catch the eddy after the Confluence of the Tuolumne and Clavey River first. At the flows in this picture, that was not a problem, but when both rivers are cranking, there's little precious time to get across the mouth of the Clayvey before the current sweeps you into the Main Tuolumnne's most significant rapid.

Even at this unusally low late spring flow, Clavey Hole is still unavoidable and packs a wallop. The current immediately below the Falls sweeps you into this powerful reversal. All Forward!!
Michiganrafter, a.k.a. Matt Urdan, grinning with delight before running the highlight of the Main Tuolumne.
Hummingbirds at feeder outside La Casa Loma Store on Highway 120 just past Groveland and before Yosemite National Park. La Casa Loma is the meeting place for virtually all Tuolumne and Cherry Creek Raft Trips.
For every whitewater enthusiast, there are certain mythical places. Lumsden Campground is one such place for me. I started planning to raft Cherry Creek over a year ago. And while I will not raft it until next summer, I did get to raft the Main Tuolumne last week. Lumsden straddles these two sublime sections of the same river flowing out of Yosemite National Park.
Meral's pool is the ending spot for Cherry Creek trips, and the beginning place for trips down the Main Tuolumne. It's a beautiful, isolated, calm pool for swimming and practicing paddle strokes just prior to Class IV Rock Garden immediately downstream; or in the case of Cherry Creek, the place to relax and catch your breath.

Right after the confluence of the Clavey River with the Tuolumne, Clavey Falls awaits just downstream....Paddle hard to eddy out past the mouth of the Clavey River, or be prepared to run the Rapid and the boat-crunching hole immediately below.
Unavoidable Clavey Hole awaits immediately below Class V Clavey Falls

Evan in the foreground of the horizon line that begins the drop of the only Class V on this stretch of river, Clavey Falls.

This was a one day trip on the Tuolumne River from Meral's Pool to Ward's Ferry Bridge. Flow was about 1300 cfs which is low but adequate for rafts. For kayakers the flow is very forgiving, though with lots and lots of manuvering. It was relatively easy to eddy hop down almost all of the rapids.
In the morning the air was thick with the smoke from the Foresta Fire in Yosemite. The smoke kept the air temperature cool, till late afternoon when hot upstream winds blew the smoke eastward.
The water temperature was cold even in late summer. The water travels through tunnels from the high elevation reservoirs and does not get much chance to warm up. Paddling a kayak with only shorty wetsuit over a rash guard shirt, I got cold fairly quickly. Once I put a splash jacket on, I was comfortable again. The rafters were not wearing much of anything. As the air got hotter late in the day, the rafters jumped in the water to cool off.
I took just a few pictures to show some rapids and give a sense of the scenery. The cliffs along the river are very pretty and impressive boulders litter many of the rapids. most of the rapids are very busy and many rapids are very long. I did not get any pictures of the really long rapids.

This is Cody Howard doing a loop on one of the many holes on the main t. There is the sweetest playspot on the t somewhere near the end, that made everything else worth it.