Grand Canyon Tuolumne: Info Request

[c9h13no3]

I refuse to call this a request for "beta".

Group of four of us are planning to do a trail run down to roughly Return Creek, and then flip around and run back. We'll probably go out on the use trail that runs by Pothole Dome, and come back via the PCT, with a short car shuttle.

We're preparing for mosquitoes & flooded trail. I'll carry DEET, a bug shirt, and I figure we'll have to climb up away from water a bit to get respite during rest breaks. I hear the best swimming hole is below California Falls, assuming the flow is slow enough to allow it.

Anything else I should be thinking about? Should we continue down to get views over Muir Gorge? Scramble up to Wildcat Point/Cold Mountain/Mattie Lake? Or just scrap the whole thing, and spend the day at the pool?

[maverick]

Scramble up to Wildcat Point/Cold Mountain/Mattie Lake?

Anywhere along the cliffs above Waterwheel Falls will afford great views, especially towards the Cathedral Range, if you feel up to it, then continue on to Wildcat Point, it also includes great views down Tuolumne Canyon, and is consider one of the best view points in the Sierra.

[Wandering Daisy]

My daughter and I did the GCT in the fall years ago, and THAT was the perfect time for swimming holes! Not sure it would be very safe right now to swim. Cold too.

If you really want to get the feel of the GCT, you may want to go down to Cathedral Creek. There is a nice campsite, off the trail, right next to the confluence of Cathedral Creek. Tomorrow would be a fine time to camp right down into the canyon, with the full moon. The top of the trail as it goes up over Muir Gorge also has a good view.

If it is just the big waterfalls on the Tuolumne you want to see, then Return Creek is a good turn-around point. If you camp near the top of Waterwheel or LeConte Falls, you can get nice photos both of morning and evening lighting.

[Bishop_Bob]

May I ask the feasibility of travel all the way through the GCT? I have a permit for Jul 25 entry at Duck Pass and had planned to go south as far as Horseshoe (depending on my speed). But an alternative would be to make a lollipop loop via the GCT and return via LYV etc.

I noticed some chatter on HST about problems with the GCT this season, but I don't know it's landmarks, so my ability to understand its status is subpar compared to what I can learn about conditions further south.

[maverick]

OP was asking for advice on a trail run, not camping locations.

[Bishop_Bob]

OP was asking for advice on a trail run, not camping locations.

I realize I jumped on the post, but to be fair, I asked about the feasibility of traveling the length of the GCT, not about camping sites.

[SSSdave]

Although there are places to cross the Tuolumne River below Glen Aulin during late summer, the river is far too large to do so early summer or after winters like this one. I've twice visited Le Conte and Waterwheel Falls early season from the opposite west side no others ever view from when cascades are strongest by crosscountry down Cathedral Creek then a class 2 crossing Falls Ridge via a roundabout route that one needs to be quite skilled with a topo. No wading involved but there was a short class 3 steep slab to traverse along the creek. Also have climbed up to Mattie Lake over 3 trips and looked down from Wildcat Point as well as the full cliff edge along the canyon north. Many superb Sierra junipers.

[maverick]

Hi Bob,
That was directed towards WD, not you.

[Bishop_Bob]

Hi Bob,
That was directed towards WD, not you.

Boop! Sorry.