R02 TR: Hetch Hetchy: Tiltill Valley and Lake Vernon, May 2023

[karstn]

I've gotten lots of inspiration and information from this board, so I felt it's time to give back and write a trip report.

Routes:
Hetch Hetchy TH to Tiltill Valley via Rancheria Falls on May 13-14, 2023
Hetch Hetchy TH to Lake Vernon via Beehive Meadow on May 27-29, 2023

Snow and water conditions:
The entire trail to Tiltill Valley was snow free. Crossing Tueeulala Falls Creek was easy, did not even get my feet wet. Wapama Falls was flowing over the bridge just a tiny bit. I got soaked from all the spray, but that was welcome in the sun. Tiltill Valley was flooded, up to my knees for a few hundred feet. There was no snow on the South facing slopes up to 2400 m, North facing granite slopes up to 2000 m.
Two weeks later, even though there was less snow in the mountains by now and even though the weather was cooler, the creek levels had gone up quite a bit. Crossing Tueeulala Falls Creek was over knee deep, but crossable with caution, flowing briskly. The bridge at Wapama Falls was partially flooded, but we heard people had crossed it.
The trail to Lake Vernon was covered in up to 5 ft of snow starting shortly after Beehive Meadow. So the snow line that I observed two weeks prior on exposed slopes does not quite apply to forested valleys. Some transitions from snow banks to gently flowing water, but with careful balancing on logs, we made it without getting our feet wet. After the pass, going down into Lake Vernon basin, there is no more snow on the trail and barely any in the basin. I brought microspikes, but did not use them. Hiking poles were useful as always.
The bridge across Falls Creek right below Lake Vernon was not flooded, but it would require waist deep wading in slowly flowing very cold water to get to the bridge.

Campsites:
I found a beautiful campsite on the Northern end of Tiltill Valley. I had the entire valley to myself. There were 5 to 10 tents near Rancheria Falls (within a mile from the reservoir), but nobody else stayed up in Tiltill Valley.
Near Lake Vernon, we found a beautiful campsite on the slabs about 30 min before the lake, with great views and our own little snow melt creek.

Bears:
Briefly after I set up camp in Tiltill Valley, three bears entered the meadow below my campsite, about 500 to 1500 ft away from me. I watched them for about three hours until it got dark. They came out again the next morning. Pretty big, pretty black. I don't have photos, because I did not bring a tele lens. It inspired me to equip my phone with a 10x25 lens. Together with a 3d-printed adapter, this setup costs about 9 $ and weighs under 70 g. Image quality is better than without the lens or with the naked eye, but obviously could be better.
We saw a Mama bear with three tiny cubs near the snow survey shelter at Lake Vernon, which kept us from going to check out the waterfalls coming down from Branigan Lake, which were quite impressive.
The bears did not mess with our canisters.

Permits:
I was lucky and had made advanced reservations for permits. Still, it took 40 to 70 minutes to have them issued at the Hetch Hetchy gate. Pretty lengthy process. Probably best to arrive early. The gate opens at 7. I heard that all walkup permits were taken, but many unclaimed reservations were released at 11:00. I guess people did not show up because of snow conditions. Interestingly, we saw only a handful other parties at Lake Vernon (despite Memorial Day weekend, despite most other trailheads being closed) and none anywhere near our campsite.

Have a good time out there!

[c9h13no3]

Cool report

Have you been to Kibbie Lake as well? I'd always thought that looked like the preferable early season trip, since so many areas around Hetch Hetchy are bogs in the early season.

[karstn]

I haven't been to Kibbie Lake. The Cherry Lake Road is closed. So it would be a long hike from Hetch Hetchy.

[bwd]

We were camped at Lake Eleanor over the weekend and met a ranger on Sunday morning headed to Kibbie Lake. We saw him again Monday. He had managed to get about a mile from the lake before giving up and turning back. We also met two guys who had hiked over to Eleanor from Cherry Lake. As noted, the road is closed but they had flown a float plane up from Groveland. They had the whole lake to themselves.

[karstn]

That is surprising that he gave up after a mile. I would assume the snow would start further up and should not be difficult to walk on?
I need to get a plane! A few weeks ago, I discovered a landing strip in the middle of Henry Coe.

[giantbrookie]

Those are some adventurous early season backpacks. I can appreciate how rough the snow/brush/water situation was in the Beehive area because I just dayhiked it (HH to Lake Vernon and back) today (will post on this later). I was mighty glad to have a light pack and even so I had some spectacular take downs. Regarding Kibbie, I might have considered Kibbie an option from Cherry L. because Kibbie from Cherry is still closer than Vernon---BUT--- the May 31 satellite photo shows Kibbie totally frozen over in contrast to the totally thawed Vernon and Laurel.

I should add that I ran into some hikers who I think read this post, regarding the situation with Wapama falls. I ran into them at the day use parking and they were wondering whether to try it (they wanted to hike to Rancheria Falls and back).

[Harlen]

Congratulations on a couple of fine hikes karstn. I envy your luck with the Bears. I love to see the reddish-brown-colored Black Bears-- they remind me of Grizzlies. Thanks for the nice report, and good, clear advice on the routes, Ian.

[kpeter]

This is really useful. I have a Beehive permit for June 19. I will go beyond as far as is safe. The more intel the better. I would like to get deeper into Jack Main Canyon, or (if able to cross Fall Creek safely) to Branigan Lake, or (if Morraine Ridge is not insurmountable) maybe Edith. I will assess conditions shortly before June 19 when I take off.

[giantbrookie]

This is really useful. I have a Beehive permit for June 19. I will go beyond as far as is safe. The more intel the better. I would like to get deeper into Jack Main Canyon, or (if able to cross Fall Creek safely) to Branigan Lake, or (if Morraine Ridge is not insurmountable) maybe Edith. I will assess conditions shortly before June 19 when I take off.

The crossing of Frog Creek in that area (ie near the "gap" leading to Edith) may be difficult this year (as of June 19). You can avoid Falls Creek issues going to Branigan by crossing Falls Creek at the Vernon outlet bridge, but then working off trail up the ridge, but this means you'll have to come back the same way (ie Branigan will be a cul-de-sac) if Falls Creek is not crossable upstream. I doubt Falls Creek will be crossable anywhere without a bridge as of June 19.

[kpeter]

This is really useful. I have a Beehive permit for June 19. I will go beyond as far as is safe. The more intel the better. I would like to get deeper into Jack Main Canyon, or (if able to cross Fall Creek safely) to Branigan Lake, or (if Morraine Ridge is not insurmountable) maybe Edith. I will assess conditions shortly before June 19 when I take off.

The crossing of Frog Creek in that area (ie near the "gap" leading to Edith) may be difficult this year (as of June 19). You can avoid Falls Creek issues going to Branigan by crossing Falls Creek at the Vernon outlet bridge, but then working off trail up the ridge, but this means you'll have to come back the same way (ie Branigan will be a cul-de-sac) if Falls Creek is not crossable upstream. I doubt Falls Creek will be crossable anywhere without a bridge as of June 19.

Yes, I may well be restricted to whatever can be done between Frog Creek and Falls Creek. Even the bridge at the Vernon outlet has been too scary to approach in some past years, and I imagine this year will be worse. So Edith may be out because of Frog Creek and Branigan out because of Falls Creek.

Are Miwok, Ardeth, and Bearup Lakes worthy destinations? Bearup at 7540 might be melted out, although Miwok at 8161 and Ardeth at 8442 are pretty high. I presume that the route in to any of them begins off the Morraine Ridge trail just before it starts down into Jack Main, at about 7800, heading north and staying west of point 8467?

If none of it works, I can have fun photographing the waterworks along Falls Creek.