High Sierra Topix

I'd been planning on doing Tenaya Canyon as part of a trip this fall, but in light of the low snowpack, I'm wondering if I could sneak it in as part of a trip this June. My understanding is that Tenaya Canyon isn't normally done until July at the earliest. Any advice on how to gauge when water will be low enough to make the canyon only normally difficult would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I did Tenaya Canyon late October. Only problem was I had to hitch hike to the start because you were not allowed to park a car there and no public transportation. As for the canyon, the later the better. You want the stream in the inner gorge to be essentially dry. Some people rappel into the canyon (above the "jumping off" point) next to the stream and the rappels are dangerous when the stream is high. My group, instead, took rock shoes, and downclimbed the slabs. It is exposed but quite do-able. We actually camped right above the "jumping off" point on a full moon night- fantastic! Once you rappel (required rappel) into the inner gorge, you are basically walking in the stream bed - with many short rappels off huge boulders. All the rocks in the stream are polished and really slick when wet. Your options are reduced with higher water. I would suggest to do it early October, before they close Tioga Road to parking.

Forgot to mention. I was under the impresson that Tenaya Creek does not go totally dry, even in very dry years. You may want to check with the Park rangers to see if that is true.

June would definitely be pushing it, even this year. Long sections of the creek bed go dry, tho there should always be pools and flowing spots.

It's possible to do a class 3 ropeless route along something called the "Initial Ledge," where someone painted his initials circa 1927(?), that follows a crack/ledge 200' above the upper 1/4 mile of the Inner Gorge. Involves some brushy scrambling at its lower end.

x2 to what the others mentioned plus the inner gorge by-pass requires some route finding and is quite exposed in a few places.